CIHM 

ICMH 

Microfiche 

Collection  de 

Series 

microfiches 

(Monographs) 

(monographies) 

Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


I 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes  /  Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Irititute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best  original 
copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this  copy  vvhich 
^\^r.y  be  bibliographically  unique,  which  may  alter  any  of 
the  image?  in  the  reproduction,  or  which  may 
significant. y  change  the  usual  method  of  filming  are 
checked  below. 


n 
n 


n 


□ 


n 


Coloured  covers  / 
Couvt  lure  de  couleur 

Covers  damaged  / 
Couverture  endommagee 

Covers  restored  and/or  laminated  / 
Couverture  restauree  et/ou  pelliculee 

Cover  title  missing  /  Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

Coloured  maps  /  Cartes  geographiques  en  couleur 

Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)  / 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 

Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations  / 
Planches  eL'ou  illustrations  en  couleur 

Bound  with  other  matenal  / 
Relie  avec  d'autres  documents 


□    Only  edition  available  / 
Seule  edition  disponible 


□ 


Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion  along 
interior  margin  /  La  reliure  serree  peut  causer  de 
I'ombre  ou  de  la  distorsion  le  long  de  la  marge 
interieure. 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restorations  may  appear 
"'ithin  the  text.  Whenever  possiole,  these  have  been 
omitted  from  filming  /  II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages 
blanches  ajoutees  lors  d'une  restauration 
apparaissent  dans  le  texte,  mais,  lorsque  cela  etait 
possible,  ces  pages  n'ont  pas  ete  filmees. 

Additional  comments  / 
Commentaires  supplementaires: 


L'Institut  a  microfilme  le  meilleur  exemplaire  qu'il  lui  a 
ete  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details  de  cet  exem- 
plaire qui  sont  peut-etre  uniques  du  point  de  vue  bibli- 
ographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier  une  image  reproduite, 
ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une  modification  dans  la  metho- 
de  normale  de  filmage  sont  indiques  ci-dessous. 

I  Coloured  pages  /  Pages  de  couleur 

I I    Pages  damaged/ Pages  endommagees 


D 


Pages  restored  and/or  laminated  / 
Pages  restaurees  et/ou  pelliculees 


Q    Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed  / 
Pages  decolorees,  tachetees  ou  piquees 

Pages  detached  /  Pages  detachees 

■, '     Showthrough /Transparence 


Quality  of  print  varies  / 
Qualite  inegale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  material  / 
Comprend  du  materiel  supplementaire 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata  slips, 
tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to  ensure  the  best 
possible  image  /  Les  pages  totalement  ou 
partiellement  obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une 
pelure,  etc.,  ont  ete  filmees  a  nouveau  de  fagon  a 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 

Opposing  pages  with  varying  colouration  or 
discolourations  are  filmed  twice  to  ensure  the  best 
possible  image  /  Les  pages  s'opposant  ayant  des 
colorations  variables  ou  des  decolorations  sont 
filmees  deux  fois  afin  d'obtenir  la  meilleure  image 
possible. 


n 


This  item  Is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  chectod  below  / 

Ce  document  est  filme  au  taux  de  reduction  i      ique  ci-dessous. 


lOx 

14x 

1Jx 

22x 

26x 

30x 

12x 


16x 


20x 


24x 


32x 


The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

Health  Sciences  Library 
i\^cMaster  University 

The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  kaeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  r     rinted  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  bacl<      >v       yvhen  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  ar?  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  t^>»  symbol  -^^  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUEr  "),  or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "Ef^D"), 
whichever  applies. 

Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc  ,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios   Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hind  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


L'exemplaire  film6  fut  reproduit  grace  i  la 
g^n^rosit^  de: 

Health  Sciences  Library 
McMaster  University 

Los  images  suivantes  ont  6t6  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  I&  ne>    »16  de  I  exemplaire  film6,  el  en 
conforr   ii6  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 

Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprim6e  sont  film6s  en  commenpant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  selon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  filmAs  en  commengant  par  la 
premiere  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  — »-  signifie   "A  SUIVRE  ",  le 
symbole  V  signifie  "FIN". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  etre 
film^s  d  des  taux  de  reduction  diff^rents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  etre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clich6,  il  est  film6  d  partir 
de  Tangle  sup6rieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite, 
et  de  haul  en  bas,  en  prenant  !e  nombre 
d'images  n^cessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrant  la  m^thode. 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

MICROCOPY    RESOLUTION    TEST    CHART 

ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No    2i 


1.0 


I.I 


1^ 


|[Z2 
2.0 

1.8 


1.25 


1.4 


1.6 


_^  .APPLIED  irvVlGE     Inc 

—^  '663   tast    Mqir    Street 

r.^  Rochesle'.  Ne*   Tork        '4609       uS* 

■=  (716)  *ej  -  OJOO  -  Phone 

=  (716)  288-  M89  -  Fo. 


PATHFINDERS    OF 
PHYSIOLOGY 


-  BY— 

J.  H.  ui:\ipsti-:r,  A.  u.,  m.  d. 

IDITOre  OF    TMI    DETBOIT    MIDICAL    JOUHNAL     FOHMIRLV   LlCTURI*   IN 

PHysiOLOGV       OITROIT    COULIOE     OF     MEDlCINl       MIMBtR    OF    THE 

OETrtOIT    MEUICAL    CLU8      WAYNE    COUNTY    MEDICAL    •OniTY 

MICMISAN   STATE  AND  AMERICAN   MEDICAL  ASSOCIATIONS 


Mience 


*  *  *  I  taught  them  how  the  stars  do  rise 
And  set  in  mystery,  and  devised  for  them 
Aiimher,  the  inducer  of  philosophy, 
The  synthesis  of  letters,  and  besides 
The  artificer  of  all  things.  Memory 
That  sweet  Muse-Mother.  " 

■•■Aeschylus 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE 
THE     PETROIT    MEDICAL    JUUK.NAL    COMPAXY 
'914 


Published   by 

The  Detroit  Medical  Journal  Company 

1914 


FOREWORD 

Tho  following  pajrcs  aro  the  result  of  the  writ.  I's  iniiultrcnct"  in 
biography  as  a  recreation.  Tiic  title  Pathfinders  is  presumed  t<i 
describe  the  contents.  The  biographical  essay,  it  is  hoped  will  be  the 
tribute  of  a  stone  to  the  cairn  of  those  who  have  blazed  the  trail  of 
discovery  in  a  domain  that  has  meant  so  much  to  scientific  mi.\.icine, 
for  "Destiny  reserves  for  man  repose  enough."  The  writer  of  bio 
frraj)hy.  in  his  self  appointed  task  fills  a  role  similar  to  that  of  Old 
Mortality  in  Scott's  well-known  novel  who  visited  the  graves 
of  the  departed  and  renewed  the  moss-covered  inscriptions  on 
their  gravestones.  The  chapters  which  constitute  this  volume 
have  already  appeared  in  the  Detroit  Mtdical  Journal  and  are 
reprinted  here  with  slight  alteration.  There  is  no  preten.se  towards 
a  complete  history  of  physiology;  far  from  it.  Hence,  while  the 
courteous  reader  will  give  the  writer  credit  for  having  read,  the  criti- 
cal reader  will  discover,  perhaps,  a  great  deal  that  he  has  either  over- 
looked or  failed  to  read.  The  subject  itself  abounds  with  interest; 
regarding  the  manner  of  its  presentation,  perhaps,  not  so  much  may 
be  said.  An  endeavor  has  been  made  to  present  a.s  much  of  the  hu- 
man element  as  available  data  ha.s  permitted.  Though  the  real  life 
of  every  great  man  lies  in  the  story  of  his  achievement,  rather  than 
m  the  tale  of  how  he  passed  his  days,  yet  the  human  touches  find  re- 
sponse in  the  mind  of  m.an.  "I  have  remarked,"  said  Carlyle,  "that  a 
true  delineation  of  the  smallest  man  and  his  scene  of  pilgrimmage 
through  life  is  capable  of  interesting  the  greatest  man;  each  man's 
life  is  a  strange  emblem  of  every  man's  and  human  -  rtraits  faith- 
fully drawn  are  of  all  pictures  the  welcomest  on  human  walls." 


The  reader  of  the  history  of  medicine  cannot  but  be  impressed  bv 
the  cosmopolitan  nature  of  the  .science.  National  lines  are  unknown, 
for  thoughtful  men  of  every  clime  have  contributed  to  its  progress. 
Its  beginnings  are  enveloped  in  the  mazes  of  ancient  superstition 
where  here  and  there  its  fitful  light  gleamed  forth  to  be  succeeded 
by  long  centuries  of  Cimmerian  darkness.  Owing  to  veneration  for 
the  work  of  such  men  as  Calen,  to  tlie  sacredness  with  which  the 


hfoh-ss  body  \va,  vi,.w..<|  and  to  the  slow  (I.'v.-lopm.'nt  ..f  its  ancillary 
sciences  the  proKross  „f  m.<licinc  up  to  the  LcKinninR  n(  th.-  n.no 
tt'fnth  nntury  was  nocessnrily  .slow,     .M,.,i,cin...  on  tl..^  uholr    how- 
ever, has  advanced  diiri-ifr  periods  of  ^,vaf   inl.jl.rtual  activity  and 
duruiir    times   of    intellectual    torpor    ha>    reman,..,!    in    a    .,uie,scent 
^tate.      The   rise   and    iail    of   sysL^ms   and    methods    would    dispose 
one    to    w.mder    if    the    end    is    yet;    if    we    have    at    last    reached 
the   be.lrock    of    fad    in   a     eientilic    .sense.      The    Kreat    a.lvantaRe 
ol    truth    over   error    is    Il,;it    tliouRh    at    times    crushed    to    earth, 
It  will  ri.se  atfain.      Not  until  science  and  plulosophv  had  freed  them 
selves  from  the  throe,  of  ecdesiasticism.  was  any  marked  forward 
movement  possible,  for.  durinvr  the  lir.^t  fifteen  centuries  of  the  Chri.s- 
tiaii  era  the  most   preposterous  ideas  of  plivsioloffv  obtaine<l    beinjf 
'"'"uled   upon   the   sacred   writings  and  superstitions   of  the  saints 
llie  Ki-owth  of  knowledge  through  observation  was  scarcely  possible 
until  the  priest  was  no  longer  physician.     With  this  great  event  is 
associated  the  name  of  Hippocrates  who  was  th.'  first  to  make  deduc- 
tions based  upon  .'.xperiment  and  observation.     He  live.l  .luring  the 
(lolden  Age  when  PoricI..s  ruL^d  with  mil.l  persiasioi;  when  Phidias 
made  immortal  th..  sculpture..!  art  of  (ireece  and  Herodotus  recorded 
th..  history   of  the   illustrious   people;    when    Democritus   proclaimed 
th.-  atomic   theoiy  of  the   univer.se   and   Socrates   taught   that   the 
greatest  knowledge  was  to  "Know  thy.self."     Experiment,  observation 
and  deduction  have  been  aptly  called  the  tripod  of  science.     Though 
much  that  Hippocrates  taught  has  been  discarded,  yet  in  the  field  of 
clinical  observation  many  .)f  his  teachings  prevail  todav.    The  "facies 
Hippocrates"  still  designates  the  characteristic  signs  of  impending 
•leath.     We  have  many  accurate  descriptions  of  disease  made  from 
careful  obsenations.  but  perhaps  more  than  all  el.se  we  owe  to  him 
that  lofty  Idealistic  note  which  comes  down  to  us  in  the  Hippocratic 
oath. 

It  was  not  until  men  disregarded  authority  and  made  direct  appeal 
to  nature  that  medicine  experienced  its  renaissance.  Such  was  the 
method  of  Harvey.  Beaumont  and  of  others  whose  contributions  are  of 
permanent  value  The  sincere  student  of  nature  approaches  his  subject 
with  an  open  mind;  his  is  the  ciuest  for  .ruth.  He  posses.ses  "that  en- 
thusia.«m  for  truth,  that  fanaticism  for  veracity,  which  is  a  greater 
possession  than  much  learning;  a  nobler  gift  than  the  power  of  in- 
creasing knowledge."  As  Sir  Michael  F.)ster  once  .said,  "His  nature 
must  be  one  which  vibrates  in  unison  with  that  of  which  he  is  in 
.search;  the  seeker  after  truth  must  himself  be  truthful,  truthful  with 
the  truthfulness  of  nature,  which  is  far  more  imperious,  far  more  ex- 
acting than  that  which  man  sometimes  calls  truthfulness."  Such  is 
the  religio  medici. 


Nor  IS  thf  liislory  of  medicine  wiiiiuiil  it-i  martyrs.  While  scien- 
tific irKiiiiry  ha.s  been  the  chief  risUiiment  in  producing  a  hi^heT  and 
better  civilization,  it  has  met  at  almost  ..y./ry  step  determined  !!p 
position  from  the  powers  of  i},'norance  and  jealousy.  There  is  Knal 
satisfaction  in  g'wiuu:  to  the  world  those  things  which  all  men  see  and 
for  which  all  men  are  jrrateful  The  poet,  the  painter,  the  musician 
and  the  arcliitect  vie  with  one  another  in  their  aprx-'al  to  the  esthetic 
sense.  Yet  is  there  not  something  higher  even  than  knowledjfe  for 
the  sake  of  knnwledifc,  or  art  for  art's  sake?  Yes.  there  is  honor 
to  him  who  chooses  a  less  spectacular  calling,  to  him  who  applies 
scientific  knowledjfe  to  the  conciuest  of  disease.  Such  men  have  bat- 
tled with  Mie  enemy  unencourajjed  h\  the  blare  of  trumpets  or  the 
throb  of  the  war  drum.  They  have  pursued  their  work  in  hospital 
ward  or  laboratory,  or  as  ••\\eelum  McLure."  have  braved  the  winter 
storm  on  errands  of  mercy  to  the  sutfering. 


■'Speak   HlMiory      Who  are  llfH'H   victors:"       t'nroll  thy  lonK 

atinals  and  8ay; 
Are  they  those  whom   the  world  rails   virtora   who   won   the 

success  of  the  day? 
The   martyrs   or   Nero?        The  Spartans    who    fell    at    Ther- 
mopylae's tryst, 
Or    the    Persians    and    Xerxes?      His    Judges,    or    Socrates? 
Pilate  or  Christ?' 

J.  H.  D. 


Among  the  works  by  which  the  writer  has  been  assisted  and  to  which  his 
Ki-it.'ful  acknoHledsmonts  are  due  are  the  following:  William  Harvey,  by  D'Arcy 
Power;  lilolufjy  .nnd  it's  .Makers,  by  Locy;  Lectures  on  the  History  of  Physiology 
and  Claude  Hnnard.  by  Sir  Michael  Foster;  Harvey's  Work  on  the  Circulation 
Sydenham  Society  lOdition;  Beaumont  s  Work  on  Digestion  (original  copy)-  Life 
and  Letters  of  William  rieaumont,  by  Myer;  Hrain  and  Personality,  by  Thomp- 
son; Recent  Progress  of  Heredity.  Variation  and  Evolution,  by  Locke-  Heredity 
by  Thompson;  Corton's  History  of  Medicine;  The  Relation  of  Medicine  to  Phllos- 
"phy.  Moon,— Alabama  Student,  by  Osier. 


CONTENTS 


Frontispiece 


William  Harvey,  Portrait 


CHAPTER  I. 

The  Circulation  of  the  Blood— William  Harvey i 

Tho  Renuissan.c- Anatomy  and  ThysloloKy.  Galon  (1)— Vesalius  (■')_ 
Harvey,  butli  and  oduraiiop  ( ;; )— Fabricius  and  Harvev,  friends-  Ana- 
tomua,  Tearhin.:  „r.'  ,„s  to  ITir,  (■.  .-Harvey.  ;,orsoual  ehararterlstu-s 
(..)-Harv,,v  as  Lertur.r;  His  Lctiue  Pro,  opts  (7)-Harvey  and  Baoon; 
Pubhoation  of  tho  Work  on  the  Ciroula.ion  (S)-The  Treatiso  on  the  Cir- 
.ulation  (lU. -capillary  Cinu.ation  (ILM-Asellius  and  the  LvmphPtio 
(iroulation  (  i:^  • -Asollius  opi-osed  by  l.arv,.y  (Ml— The  LartoaKs  dem- 
onstrated by  Johannes  Pecquet    (15). 


CHAPTER   II. 


Physiology  of  Diseation  in  the  Seventeenth  and 
Eighteenth  Centuries 


16 

Stahl  and  Boorhaavo  attacked  the  Chemical  Problems  of  Physiology  (1 .', ) 
— Peyer  and  Brunner;  Mechanical  and  Chemical  Views  of  Digestion  (17i 
-Borelli  and  Sylvius  ,  is  i_Haller's  Elementa  Physiologia  appeared 
1,;,7  (19)— Upaumt.r  and  Hi.s  Methods;  E.xperiments  with  Gastric  Juice- 
Spallanzani  (  j  I  i --- Work  of  Reaumur  and  Spallanzani  .onfirmed  by  Stevens 
of  Edinburgh   (.2'J). 


CHAPTER   111. 

Physiology  of  Digestion— William  IJeaumont 23 

The  Invostisati.ms  of  lioaumont  on  tho  pi.stric  juice  of  St.  Martin  freely 
(lujted  in  .Mediial  Litoraturo;  Beaumont,  His  Early  Lif,.  (2;!,_The  Rou- 
tine of  a  Modical  Apprentice  at  tho  beginning  of  last  century  (24)— -As- 
sistant Army  Surgeon  ( IT, .-Beaumont's  Diary  (2.-))— St.  Martin's  Ac,  i- 
'lont  (-M;i-B,2aunioi>t  ,nn,eives  the  idea  of  experimenting  on  St,  Martin 
•  :;.  1— Beaumont  Honored  by  the  Mlchi.sran  Med'cal  Society  (28)— Seeks 
Assistance  of  two  Leading  Scientists  (29)— St.  Martin  Attains  Fame 
ThvonKh  His  Sto--b  ,  yM '.  ^B^^.^jnont  resign:^  from  ::..:  a.  a,,  rw,-^ 
His  Death    ( ;i  I  l    -His   Work   (HLM. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Glycogenic  Function  of  the  Liver — Vaso  Motor  Nerves 
— Claude  Bernard 


Boriiards  Early  Life  and  flducation  (35) — His  Productive  Period  (36)  — 
Work  on  Gastric  Digestion    (37)— Glycogenic   Function  of  the  Liver   (37) 

— Vaso-Motor   Nerves   (39) — The  Action   of  Carbon    Monoxide   Gaa   (39) 

A  Friond  of  Pasteur  (40) — Domestic  Troubles  (40) — Made  One  of  the  "Im- 
mortals" (40) — His  Dexterity  as  Experimenter  (41) — Death  In  1878, 
State  Funeral   (41). 

CHAPTER  V. 

Respiration   42 

Views  of  the  Ancients  on  Respiration  (42 )— Mechanics  of  Respiration  (42) 
—Boyle  and  His  Work  (43)— Robert  Hooke  (43)— Mayow  and  His  Re- 
searches   (44) — Respiration    Prior    to   the    Eighteenth    Century    (45) The 

Eighteenth  Century  School  (46)— Priestly  and  His  Dephlogisticated  Air 
(47)— Priestly  and  Benjamin  Franklin  (48)— Priestly  Comes  to  America 
(48) — The  Phlogiston  Theory  (49)— Lavoisier  and  His  Work  (49)— The 
First  to  Uee  the  Word  Oxygen   (49). 


CHAPTER  VI. 


The  Nervous  System 


.50 


The  Heart  the  Seat  of  the  Soul  thought   the  Ancient  Hebrews   (50) The 

Alexandrian  School  (50) — Galen  Piodaimed  the  "Brain  to  be  the  Seat  of 
Thought  and  Sensation"  (51)— Thomas  Willis  (51)— Frances  Glisson  Dis- 
covers Irritability  of  Muscle  (52)— Goll  and  Phrenology  (52)— Bell  and 
Magendle  (63)— Broca  and  the  "Speech  Center"  (54)— Pathologic  States 
of  the  Brain  and  Nervous  System  (55)  — Tuke,  Benjamin  Rush,  and  Pinel 
(55). 


CHAPTER  VII. 


The  CeU  Theory  5g 

Anticipated  in  the  Seventeenth  Century  (56)— Bichat  and  His  Contribu- 
tion to  the  Theory  (56)— The  Theory  Announced  in  1838  (57)— Schleiden 
and  Schwann  (57)— Johann  Muller  (58)— Vitalism  ( 59)— Virchow's  Eu- 
logy on  Muller  (60)— Ysars  of  Discovery  (58)— Virchow  and  "Cellular- 
Pathology  (60) — The  Discovery  of  Protoplasm  by  Dujardin  (61)— Proto- 
'".^i',"'   P.**'"':'*   ^^   Starling    (62)— The   Cell   TY?Ty   at    the   Present   Time 

-,:;.•;  —  i  ne  r-iiiiciis  (uo,  —  iiiusiration  or  tne  (.eil  and  Cell  Division   (64) 

The  Cell  in  Heredity   (65). 


"There  is  no  knowledge  so  useful  to  man  as  knowledge  of 
himself.     Health  and  happiness  are  promoted  by  it.     Before 
the  advent  of  the  modem  scientific  spirit,  biologic  knowledge 
was  required  to  conform  to  the  dominant  superstitions  of  the 
time.    The  human  body  was  regarded  as  a  peculiar  and  awful 
thing,  and  not  amendable  to  the  laws  which  govern  tne  rest 
of  the  universe.    Then  it  was  found  that  the  mechanics  of  the 
body  are  entirely  reconsilable  with  the  principles  of  physics. 
Humanity's  debt  of  gratitude  is  incalculably  great  to  those 
men  who  at  the  risk  of  their  lives  and  fortunes  made  dissec- 
tions of  dead  bodies  of  men  and  animals,  and  discovered  the 
mechanism  of  the  mu.scular  system  which  imparts  motion  to 
the  joints,  the  valvular  and  pump-like  arrangement  of  the 
heart,  and  the  hydraulic  principles  of  the  tubes  ,vhich  convey 
the  blood  through  the  body.    Then  came  those  students  of  the 
secrets  of  nature  who  discovered  that  the  same  laws  which 
govern  man  govern  the  lower  and  the  lowest  of  creatures ;  that 
between  soil  and  mineral,  fluids  and  gases,  plants  and  animals, 
there  is  no  dividing  line;  that  the  lily  is  the  daughter  of  the 
pool,  and  the  man  is  the  brother  of  the  ox.     This  knowledge 
was  gotten  for  us,  not  by  the  philosopher  among  hi.s  books, 
but  by  the  patient  investigator  who  went  to  the  heart  of 
nature  and  studied  her  secrets."— J.  P.  Warbasse. 


CHAPTER    t. 


THE  CIRCULATION  OF  THE  BLOOD-WII.LIAM  HARVEY 

"This  man  livofl  in  an  ace  when  al.h*  ly  was  nu.re  im.iular  than  acMence 
and  the  love  of  mystery  stronger  than  the  love  of  philosophy."— Gorton. 

"History  is  simply  the  biography  of  the  mind  of  man;  and  our  interest  in 
nistory,  and  its  edu(ational  value  to  us,  is  directly  proportionate  to  the  comidete- 
ncss  of  our  study  of  the  individuals  through  whom  this  mind  has  been  manilCsted 
To  understand  clearlv  our  positions  in  any  science  today,  we  must  go  hack  to 
its  beginnings,  and  trace  its  gradual  development,  following  out  our  laws,  dillicult 
to  interpret  and  often  obscured  in  the  brilliancy  of  achievements-laws  wliich 
everywhere  illustrate  this  biography,  this  human  endeavor,  working  through  the 
long  ages;  and  particularly  is  this  the  case  with  that  history  of  the  organized 
experience  of  the  race  which  we  call  science."— Sir  William  Osier. 

.  „'^'^*  Renaissance— The  renaissance,  that  transitional  movement 
ni  Europe  between  the  mediaeval  and  modern  world,  affected  medicine 
and  the  sciences  at  a  much  later  date  than  art  and  letters  It  begar 
with  Petrarch  and  the  humanists  in  the  fourteenth  century  in  Italv' 
where  it  became  manifest  in  painting:  and  sculpture  The  movement 
was  accelerated  in  the  sixteenth  centu  v  bv  the  capture  of  Constanti- 
nople by  the  Turks  in  1509,  and  the  dispersion  of  its  r,reel<  scholars 
to  the  shores  of  Italy,  which  event  opened  anew  the  science  and  learn- 
ing of  the  ancient  world  at  an  hour  when  the  intellectual  energy  of 
middle  ages  had  reached  its  ebb.  It  is  significant  to  note  that  Flor- 
ence, so  long  the  abode  of  intellectual  freedom  and  art,  welcomed  with 
extended  arms  the  exiled  Greek  scholars.  Her  traders  returned  from 
the  East  with  ancient  manuscripts  as  the  most  valuable  portion  of 
their  merchandise.  But  we  are  more  immediately  concerned  with  the 
movement  as  it  affected  medicine  and  its  allied  studies.  However 
much  the  new  learning  promoted  literature  and  art,  its  influence  was 
anything  but  favorable  to  the  progress  of  science.  Admiration  for 
the  literature  of  ancient  Greece  while  it  engendered  a  love  for  poetry, 
history  and  philosophy,  had  a  similar  effect  in  promoting  a  spirit  of 
veneration  for  the  writings  of  Hippocrates,  Ptolmev  and  (ialen,  so 
that  it  became  almost  an  act  of  impiety  to  question  their  teachings. 
It  was  not  until  the  sixteenth  century,  as  we  shall  see,  that  the  spell 
of  ancient  authority  was  broken  by  the  direct  appeal  to  nature.  It 
was  rot  until  then  that  the  anatomi;-.t  determined  at  all  cost  to  exam- 
ine the  human  body  for  himself  and  to  be  guided  by  his  own  obser- 
vations. 

Anatomy  and  Physiology— -As  anatomy  precedes  physiology,  in 
order  to  adequately  appreciate  the  work  of  Harvey,  a  brief  account 
of  the  progress  in  anatomy  is  necessary.  The  great  anatomist  of  an- 
tiquity, who  surpassed  all  others,  was  Galen  (130-200  A.  D.).  He 
lived  for  a  time  at  Pergamos  and  for  five  years  at  Rome.     He  was  a 

i::r.:;   -:    L,';:,;;i    vvi::   ;:.-    v.-:^-.-!;;  vcr  ailU   V.iitcr.      ili.-,   VViiiings  eillUOUy   aii 

the  important  anatomical  discoveries  of  his  predecessors,  enriched  and 
much  enlarged  by  the  results  of  his  own  originalitv.  His  observations 
however,  were  made  upon  the  lower  animals  on  the  faith  of  which  he 


I'ATHFINDEIfS  OF  PHYSIOLOGY 


cxpduiuk'd  the  human  subject.  Huxley  declares  that  "No  one  can 
read  (ialtn's  works  without  beinjr  impressed  with  the  marvelous  ex- 
tent and  diversity  of  his  knowledge  and  by  his  clear  jjrasp  of  those 
experimental  methods  by  which  alone  physiology  can  be  advanced." 
Rome  was  the  field  of  his  greatest  triumph  as  physician.  So  great 
was  Galen's  influence  that  for  more  than  a  thousand  years  his  worka 
held  undisputed  sway  over  anatomical  teaching  until  a  greater  name 
arose  in  the  person  of  Vesalius.  Vesalius,  born  in  Brussels  the  last 
day  of  l.")!  t,  inherited  from  an  ancestry  of  learned  men  a  keen  appe- 
tite for  scientific  learning.  His  was  that  independent,  liberty-loving 
mind  which  has  characterized  his  countrymen  before  and  since  his 
day.  The  great  importance  of  his  work  lies  in  the  fact  that  he  over- 
threw adherence  to  authority  as  a  means  of  arriving  at  truth  and 
employed  instead,  observation  and  reason.  Slavish  obedience  to  author- 
ity characterized  the  thought  and  methods  of  the  Dark  Ages.  This 
was  in  accord  with  the  ecclesiastical  influence  dominant  during  this 
long  period.  It  was  the  method  of  the  theologian,  which  had.  un- 
fortunately, survived  almost  to  our  own  day.  Darwin  was  perhaps 
■he  most  recent  object  of  theological  invective.  As  the  Scriptures 
were  an  infallable  guide  to  spiritual  truth,  so  the  works  of  Galen  were 
unfailing  guides  to  scientific  truth.  Vesalius  was  bitterly 
oppo-sed  not  only  by  the  ecclesiastic  forces,  but  by  medical  men 
of  his  time.  The  theologians  opposed  him  because,  among  other 
things,  he  differed  from  the  widely  accepted  dogma  that  man  should 
have  one  less  rib  on  one  side  because  according  to  Scripture  Eve  was 
formed  from  one  of  Adam's  ribs.  He  was  also  at  variance  with  them 
on  the  subject  of  the  Resurrection  bone.  Vesalius  was  willing,  how- 
ever, to  leave  the  matter  with  the  theologians,  since  it  did  not  appear 
to  him  to  be  an  anatomical  question.  Sir  Michael  Foster  writes  that 
Vesalius  "Tried  to  do  what  others  had  done  before  him — he  tried  to 
believe  Galen  rather  than  his  own  eyes,  but  his  eyes  were  too  strong 
for  him ;  and  he  cast  Galen  aside  and  taught  only  what  he  could  see 
and  what  he  could  make  his  students  see,  too.  Thus  he  brought  into 
anatomy  the  new  spirit  of  the  time,  and  especially  the  young  men  of 
the  time  answered  with  a  new  voice."  It  is  said  that  students  flocked 
to  his  lectures,  his  audience  amounting  to  some  five  hundred.  The 
history  of  anatomy  precedes  that  of  physiologv  as  a  logical  sequence 
The  work  of  X'esalius  placed  the  structure  of  the  human  body  in  a 
new  light. 

William  Harvey  was  the  first  man  to  study  and  proclaim  the  func- 
tion of  structures  which  Vesalius  had  in  such  a  masteily  manner 
demonstrated. 

"The  work  of  Harvey,"  says  Locy,  "Was  cnmplemental  to  that  of 
Vesalius  and  we  may  safrly  say  that,  taken  together,  the  work  of 
these  two  men  laid  the  foundations  of  the  modern  method  of  inves- 
tigating nature.  *  *  *  In  what  sense  the  observations  of  the  two  men 
were  complimental  will  be  better  understood  when  we  remember  that 
there  are  two  aspects  in  which  living  organisms  should  always  be 
considered  in  biological  studies;  the  first,  the  structure,  and  then 
the  use  that  the  structures  subserve." 

iiie  new  ieaiiung  .;pread  over  Europe  in  a  westerly  and  northerly 
direction.  England  was  the  last  to  partake  of  its  benign  blessing. 
England  had  bui  two  universities— Oxford  and  Cambridge;    France 


WILLIAM  HARVEY 


had  six;  Germany  eipht;  Italy  sixteen.  Medicine  was  a  prominent 
department  in  all  ct'  them  Compared  with  the  reception  accorded 
literature  and  philosophy,  science  lajrjred  in  Enjrland.  (Jreen  sums 
up  the  situation  (Kilo):  "Bacon  had  already  called  men  with  a 
trumpet  voice  to  such  studies.  But  in  England,  at  least,  Bacon  stood 
bet  ore  his  a^e.  The  heKiiinings  of  physical  science  were  more  slow 
and  timid  there  than  in  any  country  of  Europe.  Only  two  discoveries 
of  any  real  value  came  from  English  research  before  the  Restoration 
— the  first,  Cilberfs  discovery  of  terrestial  majrnetism.  in  the  close  of 
Elizabeth's  reign;  the  next,  the  jrreat  discovery  of  the  circulation  of 
the  biood  which  was  tai'ght  by  Harvey  in  the  leign  of  James.  Apart 
from  these  illustri'.iis  names  Enplane'  tooK  little  share  in  the  scien- 
tific movement  of  the  continent;  and  l.^-r  whole  energies  seemed  to 
be  whirled  into  Mie  vortex  of  theolo.Q:y  and  politics  by  the  Civil  \Var." 
Birth  and  Education— William  Harvey  was  born  in  Folkstone 
England,  April  1st,  1578.  Very  little  is  known  of  h]^  early  life  Hi.s 
prehmmary  education  was  obtained  at  his  native  town"  where  he 
^i!^'^.-  *^'f  cf ';'^^  ,  'ic(iuaintance  with  Latin.  He  proceeded  to 
the  Kmgs  Sc-iool,  Cambridge,  where  he  remained  five  vears,  and 
atterw;u-d,  at  10  years  of  age,  entered  Caius  College,  Cambridge,  in 
lo9.5.  Harvey  even  early  in  his  .school  life  possessed  habits  of  minute 
^h-^fn^V""-  ?'■';  *°»''"«'--i:^.  f""-  (i'ssections  and  his  love  for  compara- 
tive anatomy  had  shown  his  mental  bias  from  his  earliest  vears  To 
Caius,  the  founder  of  the  College  at  Cambridge,  is  accredited  the  in- 
troduction into  England  of  the  study  of  practical  anatomv.  He  ob- 
tamed  for  hi.s  college  a  charter  which  allowed  the  authorities  of  the 
insiitution  to  take  annually  the  bodies  of  two  criminals  comemedo 
death  and  executed  at  Cambridge,  free  of  all  charges,  for  JEe  purposes 
of  dis.section  with  the  view  to  increase  the  knowledge  of  medicine 
and  to  beneht  the  health  of  her  majesty's  lieges,  wiThoS    Efer- 

av'.LTi  sHf^"f^f  '"•^'  '/  ^''  '^'''T-  To  ^vhat  extent  the  o  lege 
availed  itself  of  the  pnvilege  is  not  known.     In  all  probabilitv  Har- 

o?7reet"frH^I  T'''  'J  ''""-f''  '"^"^^  ^^"^''^^^^  '^  ^  s'ound  knowledge 
dL?eetn  1  V.7  i"  «rdinanly  to  owed  until  he  obtained  his  B.  A. 
degree  m  iyj7  A  year  alter  graduation,  at  the  age  of  tvventv  we 
find  hum  traveling  on  the  continent  where  he  studied  the  sden'tific 
branches  tributary  to  medicine,  as  well  as  medicine  itself  A  "has 
thf'n!«  1'  the.i.niversities  of  northern  Italy  were  the  first  to  ^v^lcome 
the  new  learning  as  it  emanated  from  the  east  in  the  minds  of  Greek 
Prn'?'T'  '"'  ^'"^   Vt-^'"'^  manuscripts.     The  universitS  of  north- 

«  tJl  h'  trV^'.?"-"^''-  ^^^"^'  ^'''''  ^"^  P^^-'^-  ^-^re  at  the  time 
at  the  height  of  their  renown  as  centers  of  mathematics,  law  and 
medicH  •'.  Harvey  s  udied  more  particularly  at  Padua,  renowned  for 
Its  anaiomica  school,  and  rendered  famous  by  the  work  of  such  men 
as  Vesahus  the  first  of  modern  anatomists,  and  his  successor,  Fabri- 
cius.  The  tolerance  shown  towards  Protestants  in  Padua,  the  univer- 
sity town  of  Venice,  tiie  great  commercial  republic,  attracted  many 
law  and  medical  students  from  England  and  other  Protestant  coun- 
tries ot  Europe. 

It  is  interesting  to  recall  that  each  entry  in  the  universitv  (Pa- 
dua) register  was  accompanied  by  a  note  describing  some  physical 
pecularity  of  the  student,  as  a  means  of  his  identi^cation.  Thus 
Johannes  Cookaeus,  Anglus  cum  cicatrice  in  articulo  medii  digiti  die 


I'ArilFINDlCrtS  OF  I'lIYSIOLOGY 


•lictii.  John  Cook,  an  Enp:lishman,  with  a  scar  ovor  the  joint  ot  his 
niiddK"  finKcT.  (Matriculated)  on  the  same  day.  and  so  on.  Harvey 
.•videntiy  did  not  enter  Padua  University  as  a  regular  matriculant, 
as  no  sucli  rvcon\  occurs  on  the  university  register  regardinjr  him. 
Fabricius  and  Harvey  Irieiuls— The  fame  of  some  of  its  medical 
teachers  iindoubt-dly  .ittiacted  Harvey  to  Fadua.  While  there  he 
was  instructed  in  anatomy  and  physiolojjv  bv  Fabricius,  one  of  the 
most  learned  scholars  of  Italy.  The  fame  as' anatomist  and  surgeon 
of  l^abricus  ab  Acjuapendtnte  (from  the  name  of  his  birthplace) 
had  spread  well  over  iuiroj).'.  During  Harvev's  soiourn  in  I'ndua  he 
and  tabricuis  became  fast  friends.  At  that  particular  time  Fabricius 
was  engaged  m  perfecting  his  knowledge  of  the  valves  of  the  veins. 
His  idea  was  that  these  valves  prevented  over-distention  of  the  ve.s- 
.sels  when  the  blood  passed  from  the  large  to  the  smaller  veins,  while 
they  were  not  re(iuired  in  the  arteries  because  the  blood  was  always 
m  a  state  ot  ebb  and  flow.  Harvey,  however,  pointed  out  their  true 
importance  a.s  anatomical  proof  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood  It 
was  not  so  much  what  Harvey  learned  from  Fabricius,  as  the  stim- 
ulus of  his  friendship  that  proved  of  such  great  assistance  to  him, 
lor  we  can  see  even  in  the  instance  quoted  his  view  of  the  purpose  of 
the  valves  of  the  veins  was  entirely  incorrect. 

In  lf)02,  Harvey  was  graduated  M.  D.  from  Padua.  His  diploma 
conferred  upon  him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Physic,  with  leave  to 
practice  and  teach  arts  and  medicine  in  every  land  and  .seat  of  learn- 
ing It  further  stated,  that  "he  had  conducted  himself  so  wonder- 
lully  well  in  the  examination  and  had  shown  such  skill,  memory  and 
learning  that  he  had  far  surpassed  even  the  greatest  hopes  which 
his  examiners  had  formed  of  him.  They  decided,  therefore,  that  he 
wa.s  skillful,  expert  and  most  efficiently  qualified  both  in  arts  and 
medicine,  and  to  this  they  put  their  hands  unanimously,  willing;  iv 
and  with  complete  agreement  and  unhesitatinglv."  The  University 
of  Cambridge  conferred  the  degree  of  M.  D.  on  him  the  same  year.  " 
Harvey  married  in  1604,  the  daughter  of  Dr.  Browne,  who  was 
physician  to  Queen  Elizabeth  and  to  James  I. 

Harvey,  as  we  shall  see.  excelled  as  lecturer.  His  lectures 
showed  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  anatomical  structure  of 
more  '.han  sixty  kinds  of  animals,  as  well  as  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
human  anatomy,  which  must  have  taken  vears  of  study  to  accjuire 
He  was  elected  fellow  of  the  College  of  Phvsicians  in  1G07.  An  im- 
portant position  which  Harvey  held  was  Phvsician  to  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's Hospital  in  KJOO  "The  charge  of  the  Phvsician  of  St  Bar- 
tholomew's Hospital"  required  the  incumbent  to  devote  at  least  one 
day  a  week  througlioul  the  year  to  charity.  He  was  further  enjoined, 
"not  for  favour,  lucre,  or  gain,  to  appoint  or  write  anvthing  i'or  the 
poor  but  such  good  and  wholesome  things  as  he  shall  think  with  his 
host  aiivice  will  <\n  ilie  poor  good,  witliout  any  aiicction  or  respect  to 
be  had  to  the  apothecary.  And  he  shall  take  no  gift  or  reward  of 
any  of  the  poor  of  this  house  for  his  counsel."  This  "charge"  Har- 
vey is  said  to  have  faithfully  observed. 

-\naiomicai  ieacinii^  i"ie\ious  iu  1745 — During  Harvey  s  day 
ard  until  1745,  the  teaching  of  Anatomy  in  England  was  vested  in  a 
lew  corporate  bodies.     Private  teaching  was  discouraged  by  fine  and 


WILLIAM  HAUVEY  g 

imprison  men  t  The  OAjvi:,-  of  Physicians  •ui<l  Haihcr  SurKoons  h-id  a 
monoDuly  in  London.    The  vakie  of  Anatomv  as  a  found     h„   to  mcd?- 

vuie  tJu.  bodies  of  executed  criminals.  Those  were  the  times  of 
public  executions,  witnessed  by  immense  crowds  whose  oppo  it  ion 
and  sympathy  for  the  felon  an.l  his  friends  often  interR^red  Sh  he 
procuring  of  the  body  for  dissection.  ""«-ruica  uitli  the 

The  method  of  anatomical  instruction  is  of  interest.     The  sub- 

t1  ■!r.nc"'''V'  f^'"'"'*'^'^  >•  ^^y  ■''  ^^'^'^  «f  ci'-monstrations  on  the  bo3v. 
Ihe  absence  of  means  of  i)reseryation  of  cadavers  precluded  instruc- 
tion in  de  ail.  A  single  body  was  dissected  to  shoJ  the  mures  an- 
other o  demonstrate  the  bones,  and  a  third  to  exhibit  the' yiscer 
A  tendance  on  anatomical  lectures  and  demonstrations  was  com-' 
pulsory;  violation  meant  the  forfeiture  of  a  fine.  Some  were  ex- 
empted from  the  penalty,  as  one  entry  shows  that  a  Robert  Mudslev 
has  licence  to  be  ab.sent  from  all  lectures  without  pavment  of  an'v 

onlv  ^'Tl  f  Kiven  over  the  art  of  surgery,  and  doth  occupV 

only  a  silk  shop  and  shave. 

The  anatomical  demonstration,'?  were  open  to  the  public  The 
following  note  appears  in  Pepy's  Diary:*  "Up  and  to  my  "off ice 
.  .  .  , Commissioner  Pett  and  I  walked  to  Chyrurgeon's  Hall  (we 
being  all  invited  thither,  and  promised  to  dine  there): where  we  were 
led  into  the  1  heater;    and  by  and  by  comes  the  reader,  Dr   Teame 

hll^  f.T^'^u''  t""^  ^o^TP'^"-^'  '"  a  very  handsome  manner;  and  all 
being  settled  he  began  his  lecture,  thvs  being  the  second  upon  the 
ureters  and  kjflney.s  w-hich  was  very  fine;  and  his  discourse  being 
ended,  we  walked  into  the  hall,  and  there  being  a  great  store  of  com- 
n&ny  we  had  a  fine  dinner  and  good  learned  company,  maiiv  Doctors 
01  Physique  and  we  used  with  extraordinary  great  respect  1  .  .  After 
?Jm ''Ti,  Scarborough  took  some  of  his  friends,  and  I  went  along 
Nv  h  them  to  see  the  body  alone,  which  we  did,  which  was  a  lust? 
fellow-,  a  seaman  that  was  hanged  for  a  robbery.  I  did  touch  the 
dead  body  with  my  bare  hand;  it  felt  cold,  but  methought  it  was  a 
very  unpleasant   sight.  .      .     Thence   we  went   into  a   private 

loom  where  I  perceive  they  prepare  the  bodies,  and  there  were  the 
kidneys  and  ureters,  etc.,  upon  which  he  read  todav,  and  the  doctor 
upon  my  desire  and  the  company's,  did  show  verv  clearly  the  man- 
ner of  the  d'--^ease  of  the  stone  and  the  cutting  and^ill  other  questions 
that  I  could  think  of  Pepy's  interest  in  the  operation  oi'  cutting 
for  s  one  is  said  to  be  due  to  the  fact  that  he  had  undergone  the 
ordeal  himself.  The  Dr.  Scarborough  mentioned  in  Pepy's  nS"e  was 
a  triend  and  pupil  of  Harvey. 

Personal  Characteristics— Harvey  is  described  as  a  man  of  the 

lowest  stature,  round  faced,  with  a  complexion  like  the  wain.scot  • 

his  eyes  small,  round,  very  black  and  full  of  spirit,  his  hair  black  as 

a  raven  and  curling;  rapid  in  his  utterance,  chivalric  even  to  gesture 

and  used  when  in  discourse  with  anyone  to  play  unconsciously   with 

-Samiiei  Penjs  (i632-l(ua).  was  a  famous  diarist  His  Diary  which 
pxtends  from  1G00  to  1669,  was  written  in  shorthand,  and  was  deciphered 
hy  Lord  liraybrooke  in  1S25,  This  delightful  book  of  gossip  is  one  of  the 
most  interesting  memorials  of  the  domestic  life  of  the  time. 


rATHFINDKRS  OF  PIIYSIOLOCY 


the  small  dapper  ho  wore  by  his  side."  His  individuality  was  marked, 
as  was  evidenced  by  tl\'  stronp  impression  he  made  iiiion  those  with 
whom  he  came  in  contact.  His  intellectual  jxiwer  and  mdependence 
of  chara;'ter  were  unusual.  His  ii.teiests  were  wider  than  his  scien- 
tific studies.  Accordinp  to  an  anonymous  biopraphcr*  ot'  the  eipht- 
eenth  century.  "He  was  well  read  in  ancient  and  modern  historv; 
and  when  he  was  wearied  with  too  close  attention  to  the  stiidv  "of 
nature,  he  would  relax  iiis  mind  l)y  discoursinp  to  his  friends  on 
political  subjects  and  the  state  of  public  all'airs.  He  took  preat 
pleasure  in  readinp  from  the  ancient  poets,  and  especially  \'irpil, 
with  whose  work  he  was  exceedinply  deliphted.  He  was  laijoriously 
studious,  repular  and  virtuous  in  his  life  and  had  a  stronp  sense  of 
relipion.  In  his  t'amiliar  conversation  there  was  a  mixture  of  pravity 
;  nd  cheerfulness;  he  expressed  himself  with  preat  perspicuity,  and 
with  much  prace  and  dipnity;  and  was  eminent  for  his  preat  candor 
and  moderation.  He  never  endeavored  to  detract  from  the  merit  of 
other  men;  but  appeared  always  to  think  that  the  virtues  of  others 
were  to  be  imitated  and  not  envied." 

In  spite  of  his  choleric  and  hasty  disposition  he  had  the  faculty 
of  makinp  close  friendships.  His  replies  to  his  critics  showed  great 
moderation.  Harvey's  true  character  is  probably  best  seen  in  that 
period  of  his  life  which  was  beset  with  opposition  and  reproach,  im- 
mediately followinp  the  publication  of  his  preat  work  on  the  circu- 
lation. To  his  traducers  his  attitude  resembled  that  of  the  divine 
Master,  "To  return  evil  speakinp  with  evil  speaking  I  hold  to  be  un- 
worthy of  a  philosopher  and  searcher  after  truth.  I  believe  I  shall 
do  better  and  more  advisedly  if  I  meet  so  many  indications  of  ill- 
breeding  with  the  light  of  faithful  and  conclusive  ob.servation."  His 
attitude  also  resembles  that  of  Darwin  who,  on  the  publication  of  his 
Origin  of  the  Species,  was  met  with  a  storm  of  abuse  from  clerical 
ignorance.  It  is  said  that  tl.c  preat  evolutionist  not  only  observed  a 
tranquility  impassionate  and  uni(|ue  but  even  condescended  to  replv  at 
length  with  courtesy  to  the  rantings  of  those  who  vilified  without 
even  reading  his  work  or  comprehending  the  object  of  their  denunci- 
ations. 

Harvey  was  not  a  religious  man  in  the  narrow  sense  of  the  term 
despite  the  fact  that  he  lived  in  an  age  of  warring  creeds.  His  views 
were  broad  as  befitted  a  student  of  the  design  and  workmanship  of 
the  Great  Architect  of  the  universe.  According  to  Sir  Russell  Re.v- 
nolds,  "a  devout  and  reverential  recognition  of  God"  permeated  his 
work,  "not  only  as  the  great  primal  ever-acting  force,  defined  outside 
and  before  all  the  works  of  nature;  but  as  the  Being,  'the  Almighty 
and  Eternal  God'  to  whom  he  says  in  his  last  will  and  testament,  'I 
do  most  humbly  render  my  soul  to  Him  who  gave  it;  and  to  my 
blessed  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.'  " 

Harvey's  knowledge  of  Latin  was  so  thorough  that  he  could  con- 
verse with  facility  equal  to  his  native  tongue.  He  was  accustomed 
to  employ  both  English  and  Latin  even  in  the  same  sentence,  for  ex- 
ample, speaking  of  the  eyes  and  their  f'lnction:  "Oculi  eodem  loco, 
viz.  nohihssirrii  snnra  et  ante  ad  Droce>  us  eminentes  inst.-ir  c.T^nifis 
in  a  lobster  snayles  cornubus  tactu  pro  visu  utuntur  unde  oculi  a.s  a 
centinell  to  the  army  locis  editis  anterioribus." 

•British    Biographies,    Vol.    IV.,    London,    176S. 


I 


I 


WII.MA.M   IIAIIVHY  7 

Harvey  as  Ledurer— Harvey's  lecturi's  were  partlv  read  and 
partly  oral.  The  cadaver  lay  on  the  (able  with  the  dissecting  instru- 
ments close  to  it.  An  assistant  dissected  or  demonstrated  while  the 
lecturer  read  his  remarks.  The  anatomical  lecturer  of  the  .sixteenth 
century  was  a  personage  of  importance.  The  greatest  consideration 
wa.s  e.\ercised  for  his  personal  comfort.  The  stewards  were  instruct- 
ed, "to  see  and  to  provide  tiiat  there  be  a  mat  about  the  hearth  the 
hall  that  the  Doctor  be  made  not  to  take  cold  upon  his  feet.  *  '  * 
And  further,  that  there  be  two  fine  white  rods  appointed  for  the 
Doctor  to  touch  the  body  where  it  shall  please  him;  and  a  wax  candle 
to  look  into  the  body,  and  that  there  be  always  for  the  Doctor  two 
aprons  to  be  Irom  the  shoulder  downward  and  two  pair  of  sleeves 
for  his  whole  arm.  .      .     and  not  to  occupy  one  apron  and  one 

pair  ot  sleeves  every  day.  which  is  unseemly."  Harvey  laid  down  the 
following  precepts  tor  his  own  guidance  as  lecture  precepts  which 
the  modern  anatomical  lecturer  might  observe  with  propriety: 

(1)  To  show  as  much  as  may  be  at  a  glance,  the  whole  belly 
lor  instance  and  afterwards  to  subdivide  the  parts  according  to  their 
position  and  relations. 

'd'^     ^^  ^^^"^  ""*  ^""^^^  '^  peculiar  to  the  actual  body  being  dis- 

(;5)  To  supply  only  by  speech  what  cannot  be  shown  on  your 
ov\-n  credit  and  authority. 

(1)     To  cut  up  as  much  as  may  be  in  the  sight  of  the  audience. 

(5)  To  enforce  the  right  opinion  by  remarlis  down  from  far 
and  near  and  to  illu.strate  more  by  the  structure  of  animals  accord- 
ing to  the  Socratic  rule. 

(6)  Not  to  praise  or  dispraise  other  anatomists,  for  all  did  well 
and  there  was  some  excuse  even  for  those  who  are  in  error. 

(7)  Not  to  dispute  with  others. 

(8)  To  state  things  briefly  and  plainly. 

*u    i^^}     ^^^  to  speak  of  anything  which  can  be  explained  without 
the  body  or  can  be  read  at  home. 

Here  we  have  a  combination  of  orthodox  medical  ethics  and 
sound  pedagogy.  Harvey's  particular  role  as  ^Lumlian  lecturer  in- 
cluded the  position  of  lecturer  upon  the  viscera.  Discussing  the  tho- 
racic viscei-a  he  ennunciated  the  remarkable  discovery  with  which 

ihViT^  1^  "^«eP^i-^l^ly  .associated,  initialing  the  notes  to  indicate 
that  the  ideas  were  peculiarly  his  own. 

constat  per  fabricam  cordis  sanguinem 

per  pulmones  in  Aortam  perpetuo. 

Transferri,  as  by  two  clacks  of  a 

water  bellows  to  rayse  water. 

constat  per  ligaturam  transitum  saguinis 

ab  urteriis  ad  venas 

u.ide  perpetuum  sanguinis  motum 

in  circulo  fieri  pulsu  cordis. 

Vv.  H. 

f  4n'T^®  Lumllan   lecture   was    a    surgical   lecture   established    at    a    cost    of 
Essex     Euglan^d  '""^  ''"""'  ^'""^  ^'^^   '"'°'"'  °'  "'"'^^  °'  "^'^  I^"'^^   o\ 


8  PATiiriM)F;ii.s  or  physiolooy 

"It  is  plain  from  thf  struct iiro  of  the  heart  that  th.'  l)l(.mi  is 
passed  (•ontimioLisly  thruuKli  tho  lunps  to  the  aorta  as  t)v  the  two 
clacks  of  a  water  bellows  to  raise  water. 

"It  is  shown  by  the  application  of  a  liRature  that  the  r)assajre  of 
the  l)Ioo(i  IS  trom  the  arteries  into  the  veins. 

"Whence  it  follows  that  the  movement  of  the  blood  is  constantly 
in  a  circle  and  is  brought  about  by  the  beat  of  the  heart  "  It  was 
not  until  twelvi"  years  after  this  important  announcement  that  he 
proclaimed  it  to  a  wider  audience. 

Harvey's  literary  stvie  was  somewhat  liKurative.  He  loved  to 
indulge  in  metaphors— witness: 

An  cerebrum  ri'X.  whether  the  brain  is  kin^. 

Nervi  majistratus,  the  nerves  his  ministers. 

Musculi  cives  populus,  the  muscles  the,  citizens  or  the  people. 

He  also  draws  a  similtude  likinj?  the  brain  to  a  military  com- 
mander, the  leader  ol  an  oreliestia,  an  airliitect,  and  he  sni^aks  of  the 
mu.scles  and  nerves  as  subordinate  otlicers. 

Year  by  year  Harvey  delivered  the  Lumlian  lectures  to  the  Col- 
lege of  I  hysicians.  His  private  practice  grew  so  as  to  be  fairly  lucra- 
tive. 

Harvey  and  fticon— In  1018  he  was  appointed  phvsicir.n  to 
Jamesl.  In  l(i;il  he  was  appointed  physician  in  ordinary  to  King 
James  son,  Charles  I.  Not  only  gained  he  an  entrance  to  the  house- 
hold of  the  king  but  he  was  employed  in  the  homes  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished nobles.  Among  others  he  attended  Sir  f>ancis  Bacon, 
w-ho  was  always  a  weak  and  ailing  man  with  a  disposition  to  be  hypo- 
chondriac. "In  William  Harvey  and  Franci.s  Bacon,"  savs  Corton, 
may  be  observed  two  men  like  planets  in  conjunction:  bom  in  the 
same  generation,  each  illustrious  in  the  annals  of  history,  the  one  in 
philosophy,  the  other  in  science  but  in  striking  contrast  to  each 
other.  The  one  was  a  thinker,  the  other  was  an  actor;  one  con- 
ceived methods,  the  other  put  methods  into  operation;  one  was  an 
academic  philosopher,  the  other  a  man  of  science  and  discovery;  one 
immortalized  him.self  by  his  profundity  of  thought,  the  other  by  his 
contribution  to  science.  Both  were  stars  in  the  firmament  of  great 
men,  but  long  after  one  has  become  dim  or  gone  out,  the  other  will 
continue  to  shine  with  splendor." 

Though  honored  by  England's  Lord  Chancellor  as  the  custodian 
of  bis  health.  Harvey  evidently  failed  to  be  impressed  with  Bacon's 
greatness  even  as  philosopher,  for  speaking  of  him,  Harvey  refers  to 
him  as  "writing  philosophy  like  a  Lord  Chancellor." 

Publication  of  His  Work  on  the  Circulation— In  1G28,  the  crown- 
ing event  of  his  life  look  place  when  he  published  his  well  considered 
and  matured  account  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood.  He  had  demon- 
strated his  ideas  of  the  circulation  for  twelve  vears  before  publishing 
them,  which  event  occurred  in  the  fiftieth  year  of  his  life.  This 
nonumental  work  ol  the  great  physiologist  was  accomplished  while  vet 

;::  ;;i:j  i:;:;  liL:  .  w  ay  x^nrw^y  snuuiii  aiiOW  SO  iiiUcii  luiie  Lo  eiiipse  be- 
tween the  event  of  his  epochal  discovery  and  its  publication  is  not 
clear.  Evidently  the  passion  to  rush  into  print  was  not  so  great  as 
it  is  with  the  investigator  of  to  day.    It  is  interesting  to  note,  how- 


WII.I.IAM   IIAliVKY  y 

ovor,  th.-it  anion^r  t^,.  greatest  ,hiiil«-rs  and  uuvstiKators  Ham-v  is 

'•Tn"d!''.'"nr.  '"^T•'^^•Vu^"""^'•"'•■"^  -  -".I  to  lu.v..  .iHamniMs 
li.ati.x    of  Kcvolutions     thirty  years   UvinVi-  p..  mittiiiK'  jis  publi- 
cation;   IJaco.,  kept   his  Novum  Orpamim  l.v  hm.   lor  tuvlv'.  v.i'.s- 
•T,*^,   .  'm  '"  .'"■'"""•''  '"  -^'l''"^'''  over  tin.   motion  of  th..  sphrres" 

/'in    "";"!■■  ■'■''',";■'  '"■'■'"■''  l'"''li-^''i'U'  tns  I'rinc-ipia:  1  ..fween 

h..  Ii.st  ,|ralt  ami  tlu-  puLiiralion  of  t,,.  OriKMii  of  th.'  S  uriVs  sovon- 
tfyn  years  uviv  prrnutted   to  intervene.     Perhaps   it   was   Harvev's 

•   K  aiu-e   towani     quittniK   the   peaceful   haven,"   that   cnstrain..,! 

'    1     <;•    .^'.  lonjr  a   tune,   tor  elsewh.T,.  lie   t.  lis   us  that   hi,  praetiee 

Kll  oil  or.  to  use  his  own  words,  he  "fell  mik'htv  in  practice"     Rt- 

u'nnN''ii    "\'^  contemporary  wrote,   "tli-.u^^h   all  of  his  profession 

uld    dlow  him  to  be  an  excellent  anatomist,  1  never  he:  rd  of  anv 

ho  admired  his  th..rapeutic  way,  I  knew  several  praetii  ior.ers  in 
tin;  oNvii  inat  v^ould  not  have  v'iwu  thr-e  peiici  for  his  i,ilis  (pre- 
scriptions) as  a  man  can  hardly  tell  by  his  bills  what  h.'  did,  aim  at  " 
HaiA-ey  IS  said  to  have  Ik,.,,  the  lirst  to  be  persecuted  bv  ihe  nK.lual 
profession  lor  making  discoveries  at  variance  with  the  drift  of  public 

hou..;iil  and  opniiyn.  'II,..  slory  of  all  discoveries  of  the  (irsi  rank 
has  borne  out  Locke  s  aphorism  thai  "Truth  scarce  ever  yet  carried 

•'  ^'"';;''  !'/  '■'■•^^  .iPPcarance."  The  greatest  oijstacle  to  the  accept- 
ance of  truth  seems  to  be  our  present  knowl-dge.  Men  are  by  nature 
conservjitive;   they   re.sent   innovations.      liaKehot    tells    us   thut    the 

pain  ol  a  new  idea  is  one  of  the  jrreatest  pains  to  human  nature" 
hocrates  somewhere  likens  himself  to  a  midwife  but  hi  ;  peculiar 
lunction  in  lile  was  to  assist  in  that  mental  labor  which  rave  birth 
to  ideas,  a  similitude  which  is  suK;,'estive  of  pain.  The  man  who  ex- 
pres.ses  a  new  idea  is  apt  to  be  abused,  perhaps  stoned.  Whatever 
may  be  said  ot  the  twentieth  century  the  scientific  world  c.'.n  be  ac- 
cused iiu  louKvi  Ol  tardiness  in  the  acceptance  ol  new  truMi  but  it 
re.serveslhe  li^rht  to  "prove  1  thin,-;  and  to  hold  fast  to  that  which 
IS  Kood.  W  hile  Harvey's  practice  may  have  fallen  olf,  his  discovery 
did  not  by  any  means  consijm  him  to  obscuritv.  He  still  found  favor 
with  Kiiiif  Charles  I,  whose  personal  physician  he  was  Hi-  constant 
attendance  at  court  greatly  interfered  with  his  duties  at  St  Bar- 
tholomew's Hospital  and  resulted  in  the  appointnunt  of  an  assistant 
hut  with  no  diminution  in  Harvey's  stipend.  A  c.nlemporarv  of  Har- 
vey states  as  follows:  "1  have  heard  him  sav  that  after  his  Booke 
of  Cuculation  of  the  Blood  came  out  he  fell  m'ij,'htilv  in  practice  and 
'twas  believed  by  the  vulgar  that  he  was  crack-brained,  and  all  the 
physicians  were  against  him,  with  much  adoe  at  last  in  about  twenty 
or  thirty  years'  time  it  was  received  in  all  the  universities  of  the 
world,  and  m<  !)r.  Hobbs  says  in  his  book  'De  Cuipore."  he  is  the  only 
man  perhaps  that  ever  lived  to  see  his  own  doctrine  established  in  his 
liletime;"    Veritas  est  magna  et  prevalebit! 

And  yet,  after  the  discovery  has  been  recognized  as  one  of  mo- 
mentous import,  the  scientist  has  his  detractors.  Harvey  was  no  ex- 
ception. There  were  those  who  sought  to  disprove  the  orii'inality  of 
his  work.  Some  attributed  the  merit  of  discovering  the  circula- 
tion to  Scrvetus,  some  to  Roaldus  Colurnhup.  other-,  f:-.  d-.i^^^lr-.i^.::^ 
True,  Servetus,  a  Spaniard,  bom  in  1511  and' bunied  at  the  sTake^in 
Geneva,  1533,  at  the  bidding  of  Calvin,  in  a  copv  of  his  Restitutio, 
which  was  saved  when  an  edition  of  1,000  copies  met  the  fate  of  the 
author,  rejected  the  contention  that  the  blood  passed  through  the 


10 


rATIIFINDKHS  OF  PIIVSIOI.OCY 


cnnii.-ic  septum.  Fir  had  jrruspfd  tin-  true  fcaliircs  of  the  pulmonary 
circulation— I hr  pas-aye  of  the  1.1.,..,!  from  the  riKht  .side  to  the 
lutiKs,  thence  to  the  left  side  or  ventricle.  Fiealdus  Columbus,  born 
at  Cretiiona,  l.')l(l,  a  presumptuous  personajje,  speaks  of  the  blood 
carried,  "!)>■  the  artery-like  vein  to  the  lun>r  and  l)einjr  there  made 
thin  is  brought  back  thence  together  with  air  by  the  vein-like  artery 
to  the  left  ventricle  of  the  heart."  Then  lu'  Koes  on  to  press  his  claitn 
by  dt  clarin>r  that,  hitherto,  no  one  had  made  this  observ.ation  or  re- 
corded it  in  uritin^r  .Andreas  Caesalpinus  was  born  at  Arezzo  in 
lol'.t.  He  held  for  many  years  the  professorship  of  medicine  at  I'isa, 
Learned  in  all  the  lore  of  the  ancients,  he  was  rioted  amontr  other 
things  for  his  determined  oi)po.sition  to  Galen;  Caesalpinus  appears 
to  have  jfrasped  on"  important  truth,  namely,  that  the  heart  at  sy.-tole 
disch.irKcs  its  contents  into  the  aorta  and  pulmonary  artery,  and  at 
its  diastole  receives  blood  from  the  vena  cava  and  pulmonary  vein. 
Let  all  this  be  j^ranted,  yet  the  trreat  work  of  Harvey  is  not  a 
whit  less  meritorious.  The  steam  enKine  was  in  existence  before  the 
day  of  .1;  les  Watt,  yet  his  name  is  inseparably  associated  with  the 
invention  which  transformed  a  mere  toy  into  a  KiRimtic  factor  which 
has  revolutionized  iuiman  industry.  No  person,  not  even  the  jrenius  is 
independent  of  his  time;  he  is  the  heir  of  all  the  ajje.s,  and  his  K'cat- 
ness  does  not  depend  so  much  in  presentinjr  something  unprecec'ented 
a.s  it  does  in  seeing  something  clearly  and  telhng  in  a  simple  way 
what  he  has  seen. 

Treatise  on  the  Circulation. — Harvey's  greatest  work  was  un- 
doubtedly his  Exercitatio  Anatomica  de  Motu  Cordis  et  Sanguinis  in 
Animalibus,  an  anatomical  treatise  on  the  movement  of  the  heart 
and  blood  in  animals,  published  in  Frankfort.  (Jermany.  in  lfi28.  The 
book  was  a  small  <|uarto  volume  of  72  pages.  It  (;pens  with  a  dedi- 
cation to  "The  Most  Illustrious  and  Indomitable  Prince,  Charles.  King 
of  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Ireland,  Defender  of  the  Faith,"  etc. 
The  dedication  proceeds:  "The  heart  of  animals  is  the  foundation  of 
their  life,  the  sovereign  of  eveiy thing  within  them,  the  sun  of  their 
microcosm,  that  U])on  which  all  growth  depends,  from  which  all 
power  proceeds  The  king  in  like  manner,  is  the  foundation  of  his 
kingdom,  the  sun  of  the  world  around  him,  the  heart  of  the  republic, 
the  fountain  whence  all  power,  all  grace  doth  flow."  Whatever  may  be 
.said  regarding  Ch.arles  I.  who  was  the  victim  of  public  execution,  he 
certainly  befriended  Harvey.  Then  to  the  president  of  the  Royal  Col- 
lege of  Physicians  and  to  other  learned  ph,\sicians  the  author  ad- 
dres.ses  himself  in  a  dedication  which  he  concludes:  *  *  *  "I  profess 
both  to  learn  and  to  teach  anatomy  not  from  books  but  from  dissec- 
tions; not  from  the  positions  of  pliilosphers  but  from  the  fabric  of 
nature.  *  *  *  I  avow  myself  the  partisan  of  truth  alone;  and  I  can 
indeed  say  that  I  have  used  all  my  endeavors,  oestowed  all  my  pains 
on  an  attempt  to  [iroduce  sometning  that  should  be  agreeable  to  the 
good,  profitable  to  the  leai'ned,  and  useful  to  letters  "  Harvey's 
method  here  ennunciated  is  tli2  method  of  every  .-.cienust  since  his 
day.  whose  contribution  has  possessed  real  merit — that  is,  reasoning 
based  upon  experiment  and  obser\'ation. 

The  work  on  the  circulation  comprises  seventeen  short  chapters. 
It  is  an  interesting  account,  lucid  and  connected,  of  th  i  heart's  action 
and  the  circulation  of  the  blood.     Harvey  had  no  means  of  knowing 


WILLIAM   IIAKVKV 


It 


til.'  ciiiin.'ctidii  h.twcin  tli.'  smallest  artrrit-s  ami  I  lie  smallest  veins, 
('(ir  the  microscdpc  was  not  in  such  a  sta^e  of  perfection  as  td 
permit  of  miicli  line  work  in  minute  anatomy.  It  was  not  until  the 
invention  of  the  compound  microscope  in  i(;75  that  Leeuwenhock 
(lescrihed  hlood  corpuscles  and  the  capillarv  circulation.  In  the  (irst 
chapter  the  a'lthor  review.s  .some  of  th..  fantastic  theories  rerardinjf 
t.ie  functioninjr  of  heart  and  lunr^.  The  heart  was  held  to  he  the 
Kf-eat  heat  center  .,f  the  l.o.ly  The  hlood  Was  sucked  into  it  durinir 
diastole  and  ...xp,. II  d  fn.m  it  durni>r  systole.  The  arteries  cooled  the 
l)l<)od:  the  lun^s  tanned  and  cook-d  the  heart.  The  term  "spirits- 
meant  a  Kt-eat  deal  to  Harvey's  predece.s.sor.s,  hut  not  to  hitn  "The 
\v()rd  l)loo(l  has  nodiMiK  of  Krandilotiuence  ahout  it.  for  it  si^rnities  a 
.substance  which  we  have  before  our  eyes  and  can  touch;  hut  tu.fore 
such  tjtles  as  spint  and  calidum  innatum  (inherent  heat)  we  stand 
Sifape. 

Ch  'pter  I,  he  continues: 

••VVlH.u  I  tit-Hi  K!i\o  my  mind  to  vlvlsP-tlons,  as  a  mpnn.i  of  rt'eoov.  ItiK  the 
motions  an.i  us.s  of  tlio  h.art.  and  soiikI.i  to  dla.ov.T  tlirs.-  from  icluiU  inspoo- 
tlon,  and  not  from  .1...  vsritln««  of  others.  I  found  the  task  ho  iriilv  arduous  so 
full  of  diin.ulth.s.  ttiat  I  «aH  almost  tempted  to  think.  «iih  PraraslnrluH,  that 
the  motion  of  the  heart  was  only  to  be  comprehende'  by  God.  For  1  could 
neither  rightly  perceive  at  first  the  systole  and  when  the  diastrle  to  ,k  pla,  e.  nor 
when  and  where  dilatation  and  contraction  oc,  urred.  by  reason  of  the  rapidity 
of  the  motion,  which  In  many  animals  is  accomplished  In  the  t«ink!iii>;  of  an  eye 
comInK  and  ^oing  like  a  flash  of  linhlnlng;  so  that  the  sy.stole  pre.seiiied  ii.elf  to 
me  now  from  this  point,  now  from  that:  the  diastole  the  same;  aii.l  ih.  .,  very- 
thing  was  icwrsed,  the  motions  occurring,  as  it  seemed,  variously  and  coiiiusedly 
together,  *  •  • 

"At  length,  and  bv  using  greater  and  daily  diligence,  having  fre'iuent  re- 
course to  vivisections,  employing  a  vailety  of  animals  fo-  the  purpose,  and  collat- 
ing numerous  observations,  1  thought  that  I  had  attained  to  the  truth,  that  I 
should  extricate  myself  and  escape  from  this  labyrinth,  and  that  1  had  discovered 
what  I  so  much  desired,  both  the  motion  and  the  use  of  the  iieart  and  arieries, 
since  which  timo  1  have  not  hes.tated  to  expose  my  views  upon  these  -i'lhjects, 
not  only  in  private  to  my  friends  but  also  In  public,  In  my  anatomical  leciuros 
after  the  manner  of  the  academy  of  oid." 

He  goes  on  to  tell  how  his  view.s  pleased  some,  displeased  others. 

He  finds  it  advantageous  to  study  the  movement  ^^f  tlie  heart  in 
the  cold-blooded  animal.s— frogs,  snakes  and  fishes.  He  ascertained 
that  the  heart  was  a  muscular  organ,  that  its  systole  was  the  result 
of  muscular  contraction.  The  contraction  of  the  heart  was  more  im- 
portant than  its  dilitatlon.  "During  its  contraction  the  heart  becomes 
erect,  hard  and  diminished  in  size,  zo  that  the  ventricles  become 
smaller  and  are  so  made  more  apt  to  e.Kpel  their  charge  of  blood.  In- 
deed, if  the  ventricle  be  pierced  the  blood  will  be  projected  forcibly 
outward  at  each  pulsation  when  the  heart  is  tense."  Harvey  showed 
that  the  pulsation  of  the  arteries  depended  upon  the  contraction  of 

■.:;t;   ;c;  ■_    vciiiiii;;;;.       i  ::c   'C'-j::iili'Ciiuii   UI    ine    ri^nt   VCiiuiicie   piupeiied 

'Tho  extracts  which  follow  Illustrate  H.irvf.y's  style.  The  Motion  of  the 
Heart  anrl  Blood,  by  William  Harvey,  can  le  procured  In  convenient  form 
In  the  Everyman's  I.ihrary  Series  (E.  P.  Dntton  ,t  Co..  N>w  Vorki  Tlil^  Is 
a    reprint  from   the   Sydenham   Society's  edition   of   1847. 


n 


12 


I'ATIiFi.VDlJKS  OF  FHYSIOLOCY 


tho  blood  into  tl;e  pulmonary  arteries,  the  pulsations  of  wliich  were 
simultaneous  with  the  other  arteries  of  the  bodv.  He  demoiistrated 
that  the  two  ventricles  contracted  simultaneouslv  and  that  the  two 
auricles  contracted  at  the  same  time. 

Motion,  Action  and  Ollice  of  the  Heart.— In  the  fifth  chapter 
Harve.v  deals  with  the  motion  and  function  of  the  heart.  It  read.5 
somewhat  like  m  modern  work  in  physiology. 

"Fir.-t  (.1  all,  ilu:-  auric-U-  coiilracts.  aid  in  tin-  cours.'  of  its  coim-atlioii 
lUrows  the  blood  (whicli  it  contains  in  aiiipK.  quantity  as  the  head  of  the  veins, 
I  he  storehouse,  and  cistern  of  the  blood  j,  into  the  ventricle,  which,  beinj;  filled, 
the  heart  raises  itself  straightway,  makes  all  its  fibres  tense,  contracts  the  ven- 
tricles, and  performs  a  beat,  by  which  brat  it  immediately  sends  the  blood  sup- 
iWied  1(1  II  'la  ilie  auricle  into  the  arteries;  ,he  right  ventricle  sending  it,s  charge 
iiito  the  lungs  by  the  vessel  which  is  called  vena-arteriosa,  but  which,  in  s'ructure 
and  fuiifiou.  and  all  things  else,  is  a.,  artery;  the  left  ventricle  seuding  its 
(hargc  into  the  aorta,  and  through  this  bv  the  arteries  to  the  bodv  at  large. 
These  two  motions,  one  of  the  ventricles,  another  of  the  auricles,  take  iil.'ce  con- 
secutivel;-,  but  in  sucii  a  manner  that  there  is  a  kind  of  harmony  or  rhythm  pre- 
served between  them,  the  two  concurring  in  such  wise  that  but  one  motion  is 
apparent,  especially  in  the  warmer  blooded  animals,  in  which  the  movements  in 
question  are  rapid," 

So  far  as  Harvey's  reasoning  is  based  upon  his  observations  his 
conclusions  are  in  the  main  correct,  as  proved  by  more  recent  re- 
search ;  where  he  indulges  in  speculation  we  get  the  following: 

"In  the  larger  and  more  perfect  animals  of  mature  age  Nature 
has  rather  chosen  to  make  the  blood  percolate  the  parenchyma  of  the 
lungs.  *  '■  *  It  must  De  because  the  larger  and  more  perfect  animals 
are  warmer,  and  when  adult  their  heat  greater,  ignited  I  may  say 
and  requiring  to  be  damped  or  mitigated,  that  the  blood  i.s"  sent 
through  the  lung.s.  in  order  that  it  may  be  tempered  by  the  air  that 
IS  inspired  and  prevented  from  boiling  up  aiid  so  becoming  e.xtin- 
guished  or  son  ething  else  of  the  sort,"  or,  to  modernize  it.  the  lungs 
sei-ve  a.s  radiator  and  the  heart  the  gasoline  or  internal  combustion 
engine. 

Capillary  Circuhition.— Since  Harvey';i  time  Malpighi,  in  16G1, 
hinted  at  the  capillary  circulation,  which  was  still  further  investi- 
gated by  Leuwenhoe'k  in  1(J71.  who  studied  it  with  his  microscope  in 
the  web  of  a  frog's  loot  and  in  other  ti-ansparent  membranes.  In 
1G7G.  Biankiiart,  and  in  lo97  Cow  per,  tudied  the  arrangement  of  the 
capillaries  by  means  of  in.jecied  specimens.  A  long  interval  elapsed 
bctueen  the  hisioiogical  study  of  the  circulation  before  chemistry 
v.;is  sulliciently  ativanced  to  afford  definite  knowledge  in  regard  to 
oxidation  of  the  l)lood  and  the  explanation  of  the  true  function  of 
the  lungs.  The  work  of  Priestly  in  1775  was  a  notable  contribution 
to  the  physiology  of  respiration.  The  nineteenth  century,  through 
the  work  of  Ludwig  in  Germany,  Chauveau  in  France,  and  Foster  in 
England,  has  seen  the  physics  of  the  heart  and  circulation  reduced 
almoi't  to  an  e.xact  .science. 

AnV    acCt'>Unt    of   tlie   work.-^   of   TT'lWi'V    \v;~;!!l;l    ]•.:■    \^^r:':ir\r\)iii:^    •,1'pr^i 

no  mention  made  of  his  work  in  embryology.    Harvey  discussed  the 
nature  of  development    and  exhibited  extraordinary  powers  as   re- 


WILLIAM  IIAltVKY 


13 


Kurds  accuracy  of  reasoning.  He  may  be  considered  as  having  made 
the  first  independent  advance  in  the  subject.  That  lie  did  not  ac- 
complish more  was  (hie  to  lack  of  instruments  of  precision,  and  to 
the  fact  tluit  he  had  to  build  on  the  general  level  of  the  science  of 
the  time.  His  work  on  embryology  was  published  in  IGol.  It  was 
entitled  "E.xercitationes  de  (Jeneratione  Animalium."  In  it  is  an 
account  of  not  only  the  development  of  the  chick,  but  of  deer  and 
other  mammals  as  well. 

All  honor  to  liim  who  blazes  the  trail.  The  refinements,  what- 
e\ei-  tiu,, may  be,  can  never  merit  for  the  investigator  the  honor 
wii'ch  IS  due  the  pioneer.  As  was  said  by  Haller,  one  of  the  best 
informed  minds  of  the  eighteenth  centurv.  "It  is  not  to  Caesalpinus 
because  of  some  words  of  doubtful  meaning,  but  to  Harvey.  +he  able 
writer,  the  laborious  contriver  of  so  manv  experiments,'  the  staid 
oropoiinc  er  ot  all  the  arguments  available  in  his  dav,  that  the  im- 
mortal glory  of  having  discovered  the  circulation  of  the  blood  is  to 
be  assigned. 

One  of  his  last  acts  was  to  set  a-ide  a  certain  sum  derived  from 
his  estate  for  the  delivery  of  an  oration  in  commemoration  of  the 
beneffictors  of  the  College  of  Physicians.  This  oration,  the  Har- 
veian  Oration,  is  sMll  delivered  each  year  by  some  distinguished  mem- 
ber of  the  medical  profession.  Even  in  his  declining  v^ars  his 
thoughts  were  turned  to  the  future.  The  Harveian  Lecture  is  in- 
tended ^o  further  the  progress  of  .science,  especially  a  knowledge  of 
the  body  in  health  and  disease.  "Much  of  the  nobility  of  the  profes- 
sion, '  .says  Osier.  Harveian  lecturer,  190G,  "depends 'upon  the  great 
cloud  of  witnesses'  who  pass  into  the  silent  land— pass  and  l^ave  no 
sign,  becoming  as  though  they  had  never  been  born.  And  it  was  the 
pathos  of  this  fate  not  less  prophetic  because  common  to  all  but  the 
few,  that  wrung  from  the  poet  that  sadly  true  comparison  of  the  race 
of  man  to  the  race  of  the  leaves."  Harvey  was  one  of  the  "few"  to 
have  achieved  that  immortality  which  places  him  with  "The  divine 
men  of  old  time." 

He  died  June  3rd,  1657,  in  the  eightieth  year  of  his  age. 
Asellius  and  the  Lymphatic  Circulation. 

Corollary  to  the  circulation  of  the  blood  is  the  lymphatic  circula- 
tion. The  discovery  of  the  lymphatics  was  almost  s'ynchronou.s  with 
that  with  which  Harvey  achieved  an  immortal  name.  While  the 
niemory  of  Harvey  has  been  fittingly  honored  in  various  wavs.  that 
of  Aselhus  or  Aselli  has  not  been  sufficiently  recognized.  The  data 
referring  to  Aselli's  life  are  extremely  meagre.  He  was  born  in  1581, 
it  Cremona,  Italy,  the  descen;lant  of  a  iiatrician  family.  He  studied 
at  the  I  niversity  of  Pavia,  v.'.n-e  lie  became  laureate  in  medicine, 
rurgery  and  r-liilosopliy,  a^'.er  uliich  he  located  in  Milan,  where  he 
taught  anatomy  private-!/  and  engaged  in  the  practice  of  surgery.  It 
w-as  while  in  Milan  '.nat  he  made  his  discoverv.  in  1G22,  of  the  Ivm- 
phatic  vessels  w^xch  he  called  venae  lactae.  His  discoverv  was  rec- 
ognized by  his  election,  two  years  later,  to  the  chair  of  anatomy  and 
ourg;.ry  in  n;.-,  aima  iiialfr,  a  position  he  was  destined  not  long  to 
hold,  for  he  died  in  162G  at  the  age  of  fortv-five.  His  book  De  Lac- 
tibus  was  published  a  year  after  his  death.     William  Harvey  was 


14 


PATHFINDERS  OF  PHYSIOLOGY 


forty-four  years  old  at  the  time  of  Aselli's  discovery.     Asclli's  dis- 
covery      the  hicteals  is  related  by  himself  as  follows: 

"On  the  23r(l  of  July  in  thar  yoar  (1022)  1  had  takon  a  doK  In  K()od  condl 
tlon  and  well  fed,  for  a  vivisection  at  the  request  of  some  friends,  who  very 
mueh  wiKhed  to  sec  the  recurrent  nerves.  When  I  had  finished  lliis  leuioiistra- 
tlon  of  the  nerves,  it  seemed  good  to  watch  the  movements  of  the  diaphragm  In 
the  same  dog,  at  the  same  operation.  While  I  was  attempting  this,  and  for  that 
purpose  had  opened  the  abdomen  and  was  pulling  down  with  my  hand  the  intes- 
tines and  stomach  gathered  together  into  a  mass,  I  suddenly  beheld  a  great 
number  of  cords,  as  it  were,  exceedingly  thin  and  beautifully  white,  scattered 
all  over  the  whole  of  the  mesentery  and  the  intestine,  and  starting  from  almost 
innumerable  bc:?innings.  At  first  I  did  not  delay,  thinking  th.-m  to  be  nerves 
But  presently  I  saw  I  was  mistaken  in  this,  since  I  noticed  the  nerves  belonging 
to  the  intestine  were  distinct  from  these  cords  and  wholly  unlike  them  and 
besides,  were  distributed  quite  separately  from  them.  Wherefore  struck  bv  the 
norelty  of  the  thing,  I  stood  for  some  time  silent  wl  'e  there  came  to  my  mind 
the  various  disputes,  rich  in  personal  quarrels  no  ler  han  in  words,  taking  place 
among  anatomists  concerning  the  mesariac  veins  ....d  their  function.  And  by 
chance  it  happened  that  a  few  days  before  I  had  looked  into  a  little  book  by 
Johannes  Costaeus  written  about  this  very  matter.  When  I  gathned  mv  wits 
together  for  the  sake  of  the  experiment,  having  laid  hold  of  a  very  sharp  scUpel 
I  pricked  one  of  those  cords,  and  indeed  one  of  the  largest  of  them  I  hrl 
scarcely  touched  it,  when  I  saw  a  white  I'quid  like  milk  or  cream  forthwish  gush 
out.  Seeing  this,  I  could  hardly  restrain  my  delight,  and  turning  to  thos»  who 
were  standing  by,  to  Alexander  Tadinus,  and  more  particularly  to  Senator  Sep- 
talius.  who  was  both  a  member  of  the  great  college  of  the  Order  of  Physicians 
and,  while  1  am  writing  this,  the  medical  offlcer  of  health,  'Eureka,'  I  exclaimed 
with  Archimedes,  and  at  t'le  same  time  invited  them  to  the  interesting  spectacle 
of  such  an  unusual  phenomenon.  And  they  indeed  were  much  struck  with  the 
novelty  of  the  thing." 

AselH  noted  the  presence  of  valves  in  the  lymphatic  vessels  and 
[hpTvmn'l  H  "■  ^""'^^Jo"'  namely  to  prevent  the  backward  flow  of 
the  lymph  He  recognized  also  that  the  lacteals  were  vessels  for  con- 
veymg  chyle  away  from  the  intestine.  He  went  wrong,  however  in 
regard  to  the  ultimate  course  taken  by  the  newly-di.scovered  vessels 
for  he  thought  he  could  trace  them  to  the  liver.'  Aselli  was  helvilv 
handicapped  b,v  his  previous  learning,  which  consisted  of  a  careful 
study  of  as  well  as  veneration  for  the  teachings  of  the  ancients 
Galen  had,  in  fact,  taught  that  all  nutritive  material  frim  digestive 
processes  passed  through  the  liver.  Aselli  speaks  in  his  book  of  a 
group  ot  lymphatic  glands  lying  in  the  mesenterv,  as  the  pancrea.s— 

^?n?  f  fi,"T^/'^"fu*'''^'  '^'''"•-  ^^°  ^"'■c*^  ^-hich  cau.sed  the  move- 
ment of  the  fluid  in  the  lacteal  vessels  was  believed  bv  him  to  bo  two- 
fold a  VIS  a  tergo  and  a  vis  a  f rente;  the  latter  derived  from  supposed 
inteSes       '  ^'''™''^  supplied  by  the  movements  of  the 

nrnv^fW^S^T'l  ''•T  "^"■'■^^;-  ••^'*'"'  '"  ^'«  modesty  endeavored  to 
h™)!-!  a  ^    ''"'!  ""'."'^  '^""''■"    ^0  ^'^'^    ancients,    especially    to 

!;Ih;?=^  ■L.^"'?:,^^!^.^':!^'''*^"-':/^""'^^"'''^  of  the  Alexandrine  school  of 
f^^^lu^  ''''  ■-••"'■"■'■'"•'-■*■''  '""^■^  ^'^r.c  .-..me  oppu.-iiiioii  as  did  Harvev's,  and 
from  the  .sam.'  men,  among  them  Riolan  and  Primrose,  and  strange  to 
say  Harvey  him.self  fail,  >]  to  recognize  the  importance  of  the  work 


ASELLIUS 


15 


of  his  contemporary, 
writes : 


In  a  private  letter  written  in  April,  1652,  he 


"With  regard  to  I  ho  larfoal  veins  discovered  by  Aselli,  and  ty  the  further 
diligence  of  Tecquet,  wiio  discovered  the  receptacle  or  reservoir  of  the  chyle. 
and  traced  the  ranals  thence  to  the  sub-clavian  veins,  I  shall  tell  you  fr>^ely,  since 
you  ask  me,  wh,.c  I  think  of  them.  I  had  already,  in  the  course  of  ray  dissections, 
I  venture  to  say  even  before  Aselli  had  published  his  book,  observed  these  vhlte 
canals.  »  •  »  jjut,  for  various  reasons,  and  led  by  several  experiments,  I 
could  never  be  brought  to  believe  that  that  milky  fluid  was  chvle,  conducted  thither 
from  the  intestines,  and  distributed  to  nil  parts  of  the  body  for  thoir  nourish- 
ment; but  that  it  was  rattier  met  with  occasionally  and  by  accident,  and  proceeded 
from  too  ample  supply  of  nourishment  and  a  peculiar  vigor  of  concoction;"  and 
Harvey  continues:  "Why  indeed,  should  we  not  as  well  believe  that  the  chyle 
(digested  contents  of  the  intestines)  enters  the  mouth  of  the  mesenteric  veins 
and  in  this  way  becomes  immediately  mingled  with  the  blood,  where  it  might 
receive  digestion  and  perfection.  •  •  *  And  that  the  thing  is  so  in  fact,  I 
find  an  argument  in  the  distribution  of  innumerable  arteries  and  veins  to  the 
intestines,  more  than  to  any  other  part  of  the  body,  in  the  same  way  as  the 
uterus  abounds  in  blood  vessels  during  the  period  of  pregnancy." 

Sir  William  O.sler  (Harveian  oration,  1906)  refers  to  this  inci- 
dent in  Harvey's  career:  "How  eminent  so  ever  a  man  may  become 
in  science,  he  is  very  apt  to  carry  with  him  errors  which  were  in 
vogue  when  he  was  young — errors  that  darken  his  understanding, 
and  make  him  incapable  of  accepting  even  the  most  obvious  truths. 
It  is  a  great  consolation  to  know  that  Harvey  came  within  the  range 
of  this  l;iw — in  the  matter  of  the  lymphatic  system;  it  is  the  most 
human  touch  in  his  career." 

The  lacteals  were  demonstrated  in  man  in  1628,  the  subject  be- 
ing an  executed  criminal  examined  shortly  after  execution.  Twenty- 
one  years  after  Aselli's  death  the  thoracic  duct  was  discovered  by 
Johannes  Pecq'.'et,  of  Dieppe,  France.  He  not  only  accurately  de- 
scribed these  lymphatic  structures,  but  showed  that  Aselli's  lacteals 
poured  their  contents  into  what  he  called  the  receptaculum  chyli,  but 
that  the  thoracic  duct — a  continuation  of  the  receptacle — poured  its 
contents  into  the  venous  system  at  the  junction  of  the  jugular  and 
subclavian  veins.  Pecquet  was  twenty-five  years  old  when  he  made 
this  discovery,  which  he  himself  described  as  the  gift  of  fortune 
sporting  witn  the  ignorant.  Munus  est  fortunae  cum  in.scio  ludentis. 
Pecquet,  however,  did  not  follow  up  this  solitary  triumph.  His  ap- 
petite for  alcoholic  beverages  got  the  better  of  him  and  eventually 
caused  his  death. 

Harvey's  work  on  the  circulation  appeared  between  the  discov- 
ery of  Aselli  and  that  of  Pecquet  and  so  profoundly  had  it  influenced 
the  medical  thought  of  the  time,  that  the  discovery  of  the  thoracic 
duct  and  its  function  was  accepted  without  question. 


11 


C  H  A  PTi:  1{   11. 


physiolo(;y  of  digestion  in  the  seventeenth 
and  ekihteenth  (  entiries 

The  circulation  of  the  blood  was  worked  out  and  proclaimed  to 
the  W(jrld  by  one  man,  and  his  work  was  so  complete  that  it  has  not 
been  rendered  obsolete  by  subsequent  knowledge.  The  historv  of  the 
physiology  of  digestion  has  been  of  gradual  growth  so  that'  no  one 
man  can  claim  credit  for  our  present  knowledge.  liefore  the  develop- 
ment of  chemistry,  any  marked  progress  in  the  ph.siolo^v  of  alimen- 
tation would  not  have  been  possible;  the  earlv  workers  in  this  par- 
ticular field  were  chemists  rather  than  phvsiologists.  The  history 
ot  physiology  during  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  in- 
volves the  lives  and  work  of  numerous  investigators,  each  accomplish- 
ing all  that  was  possible  considering  the  advancement  of  the  general 
scientific  knowledge  of  the  time. 

f  *u^^'"  ^y^"^^^  of  the  latte  '  of  the  seventeenth  and  earlv  part 

of  the  eighteenth  century  a  iminent  as  e.xerting  im])ortant  intl- 

ence  in  the  way  of  solution  ,;i  th  chemical  prot)lems  of  phvsiologv 
These  were  George  Krnest  Stahl  and  Hermann  lioerliaave.  Stahl  was 
born  at  Anspach  in  lG(i();  he  stuilied  at  Jena,  and  after  graduating  be- 
Ciime  court  physician  at  Weimer,  aiui  in  1(511 1  professor  of  medicine  at 
Halle.  He  died  m  17:M  in  IJeilin.  where  he  moved  in  1716  on  his  ap- 
pointment as  physician  to  the  King  of  Prussia.  Stahl  was  an  ac- 
comphshed  chemist  of  his  day.  His  views  on  gastric  digestion  may  be 
summed  up  in  the  following  sentence  from  his  work:  "Some  people 
suppose  that  gastric  digestion  results  from  the  action  of  particular 
and  specific  ferments,  and  indeed  go  so  far  as  to  regard  the  st.miach 
as  not  only  the  seat  but  also  the  origin  of  a  particular  ferment, 
whereas  in  the  whole  construction  of  the  st(jmach  nothing  particular 
IS  ob.served  which  would  render  the  elaboration  of  such  a  special 
agent  likely."  He  was  a  th-m  believer  in  the  psvche  of  Aristotle  and 
introduced  a  principle  which  lie  termed  anima.  He  was  whollv  out  of 
sympathy  with  those  who  tried  to  e.xplain  the  phvsical  and 
psychical  phenomena  of  life  and  mind  on  chemical  and  mechanical 
principles.  He  could  not  think  of  himself  as  a  chemical  retort  subject 
to  ferments.  The  soul  was  to  him  the  living  force  of  the  body;  "It 
was  susceptible  of  being  played  upon  by  a  thousand  dilferent"  influ- 
ences, such  ,i.>  joy.  sorrow  and  grief,  love  and  friendship.  Uw  beauti- 
ful, the  true,  the  reverent,  the  sublime.  *  -  *  Can  these  things  be  the 
product  01  chemical  acids  and  alkalies  and  the  mechanijal  devices  of 
the  mason  and  builder?"  Sir  Michael  Foster  sums  up  the  teaching  of 
Stahl  thus:  "Learn  as  much  as  you  can  of  chemical  and  phvsical  pro- 
cesses, and  in  so  far  as  the  phenomena  of  the  living  bodv  e.xactly  re- 
semble chemical  and  physical  events  appearing  in  non-living  bodies 
you  may  explain  them  by  chemical  and  phvsical  laws.  Cut  d(  not 
conclude  that  that  which  you  see  taking  place  in  a  :ion-livinir  body 
v.iii  laivc  (/iace  m  a  Iimhk  i)0(i\,  for  the  iiemicaf  and  phvsieal  phe- 
nomena of  the  latter  are  modified  by  the  s.  ul.  The  events  of  the  bodr 
may  be  rough  hewn  by  chemical  and  i)hysical  forces,  but  the  soul  will 


PATHFINDERS  OF  PHYSIOLOGY 


K 


Shape  tlu'm  0  its  ou  ii  end  and  will  do  that  by  its  own  instrument,  mo- 
tion Mahl,  It  wdl  be  seen,  belonged  to  the  '■vitalists,"  which  nar- 
ticu  ar  type  „i  phy-ioloRist  has  only  witriin  recent  vears  become  ex- 
tinct. His  Imidamental  position  was.  between  livinjr  and  non  livinir 
,&'  l^'^'''''':'  m'at  Rulf  lixed.  Living  things  so  long  as  thev  are 
alive  are  actuated  by  the  sensitive  soul;  non-living  things  are  not 
Ihe  rational  soul  of  man  governed  his  whole  bodv.  The  healing 
power  ol  nature,  vis  medicatrix  naturae,  has  been  recognized  from 
the  most  ancient  to  the  present  time.  Stahl's  svstem  was  founded 
upon  the  .sui)po:-ition  that  the  vis  naturae  existed  entirelv  in  the  ra- 

nr!m'  rrtw  f^'^r'''''"'"'?  "^  ^^"^'''  ''^'^trine.  he  and  his  followers 
piop.j.sed  the  art  ol  curing  by  expectation,  medicina  expectans  which 
practice  led  to  the  prescribing  of  inert  remedies,  placebos  ' 

fhP  ™''f"''  /'"'""'•''•-I"  the  catalogue  of  workers  in  phvsiologv  of 

Brunn  .,  P'"^''  ''"'T  "'■'  ^t  "^""^'-^  "'■  J''^'"  Conrad  Peve.  and 
Kiunnei       Peyer  was  boin  in  Switzerland  in   lfi53.     He  studied  at 

Sif  wEn^""['  'i^^t^^-JlS^^V".'^'^  '"^^'^-^  ^"^^•"'  Schatfhaus  to 
whS  ;  d^.  ih  I  "  t'"  '^--  "  \"''  *^"  published  a  brochure  in 
\M  ich  he  de.scribed  certain  r^-.v  glands  scattered  over  the  intestine- 
these  glands  are  tam.har  to  every  student  of  phvsiologv  or  hi'<tolog; 

itse?'nd:  ^f '?''•■  •  "f  ""'^  '^'  ^''r  '''  ^''-'^^  full'descri  .t  on  of 
these  y  nd.s  lie  familiar  to  every  student  of  phvsiologv  or  histologr 
ower  part  of  the  small  intestine  and  in  the  ileum.-  making     di      n  t^on 

Hs  d    c  ^'r  'L""''  ^^'•.  ^" '^^"•■y  ='""  Ihe  patches  of  agmhiated  gland 
Hks  d  scovery  harmonized  with  that  of  Brunner  a  few  years  later 

Brunner  was  born  at  Dieffenhauscn  in  16.53.  He  stud  ed  at 
Strassburg  and  was  eventually  called  to  the  chair  of  medicine  at  Hei- 
delberg, shortly  alter  entering  upon  his  position  he  pubhthed  1  s 
Dissertat.o  Inaugurahs  de  Glandulis  Duodeni.  in  which  he  d' Ic'il  ^s 
the  glands  which  have  since  borne  his  name.  Brunner's  glands  He 
attributed  to  these  glands  a  function  similar  to  the  pancr.  as  .^nd 
spoke  of  them  as  a  "pancreas  sesondarium."  Brunner  had  maden  n- 
erous  experiments  by  removing  the  pancreas  from  dogs.  He  con- 
cluded that  th.e  animals  thus  operated  suffered  in  no  wise  IVomTll 
health,  consequently  the  digestive  powers  of  pancreatic  juice  were 
practically  nothing.  These  gropings  of  the  seventeenth  centurv  are 
curiously  interesting  viewed  in  the  light  of  the  twentieth.  Th, 'work 
of  Peyer  and  Brunner  served  to  deprive  of  its  glory  that  of  Sylvius 
and  DeGraaf.  who  had  attributed  important  digestive  powers  to  the 
pancreatic  juice.  The  attention  of  physiologists  was  again  centered 
on  the  older  view  that  the  stomach  was  the  chief  seat  of  digestion. 

Mechanical  and  Chemical  Views  of  Digestion,— Two  views  con- 
ceming  gastric  digestion  contended  for  first  place.  One  which  may 
be  designated  the  mechanical,  was  espoused  by  Borelli.  who  was  the 
founder  of  the  socalled  latromathematic.il  school,  which  profe-;-;ed  to 
be  able  to  reduce  all  the  motions  and  activities  of  nature  to  malhe- 
inatical  formul.ie.  Borelli's  stutlies  were  made  on  the  stomachs  or 
gizzards  of  birds.  He  pointed  out  tht  great  grinding  or  pressing  force 
effected  by  the  muscular  coats  of  the  stomach,  H.  omnarcs  the  ac- 
tion of  the  fleshy  stomach  to  that  of  the  toelh,  and  continues:  "We 
have  already  showTi  that  the  absoluti  forct  of  the  muscles  which  close 
the  human  jaw  represents  a  power  greater  than  that  of  a  weight  of 
1.350  pounds;  therefor^e,  the  fore   of  the  turkey's  stomach  is  not  less 


18 


BCERHAAVE 


than  the  power  of  \:.VM)  pounds."  This  estimate  of  the  power  of  the 
human  musolts  of  mastication,  is  rather  hijrh.  Can.;n  in  his  recent 
worl<  places  the  pressure  which  the  mohirs  are  capable  of  exerting  at 
270  pounds.  liorelli  admits,  however,  that  certain  animals  "consume 
flesh  and  bone  by  means  of  a  cci-tain  very  potent  ferment,  much  in 
the  same  way  as  corrosive  li(iuios  (hssoive  metals."  The  iatro-phvs- 
ical  -school  eventually  went  farther  tha  Boreili  and  denied  ihal  chem- 
ical action  h;s  anything  whatsoever  lO  do  with  digestic"!,  uui  con- 
tended that  dijrt'stion  was  mere  trituration  of  the  food  in  the  stomach 
to  a  creamy  sul)stance  known  as  chyle.  Uellini,  a  pui)il  of  Uorelli, 
went  farther  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  centuiy  and  er.deav- 
ored  to  explain  many  Junctions  of  the  human  bodv  fi-om  mathemati- 
cal data.  Keill,  a  member  of  this  cult,  calculated  from  data  purely 
imaginary  the  power  of  each  organ.  According  to  him  the  stomach 
had  a  force  of  compression  so  great  that  to  overcome  its  own  resist- 
ance must  have  meant  its  own  destruction.  One  iatro-physicist  esti- 
mated the  force  of  the  heart  as  eciual  to  180,000  pounds;  another 
placed  it  at  eight  ounces.  Their  calculations  were  clolhed  in  the  im- 
posing nomenclature  of  the  exact  .sciences.  This  doctrine  is  said  to 
liave  extended  to  all  the  universities  and  medical  institutions  of 
Europe. 

The  iatro-chemical  school,  or  "chemikers"  as  thev  were  dubbed 
by  (iuy  I'alin,  a  French  physician  and  wit  of  the  time," sought  a  solu- 
tion 01  all  the  phenomena  of  the  human  body  in  their  flasks  and  re- 
torts. They  maintained  that  the  change  in  the  stomach  was  chieflv 
if  not  wholly  a  chemical,  resulting  from  the  process  of  fermentation. 
It  was  recognized  even  at  this  time  that  the  membrane  of  the  stomach 
was  glaiKiular  in  structure,  and  yet  little  importance  was  attached  to 
the  secretion  of  such  membraneous  surface. 

In  Kil 4  was  born  Francois  de  le  Boe  or  Dubois,  better  known  bv 
his  Latin  name.  Sylvius.  He  is  not  to  be  confused  with  Jacobus  Svi- 
vius,  the  I'arisian  anatomist,  teacher  of  \esalius,  who  lived  i  the 
sixteenth  centui-y.  The  latter  Sylvius  studied  at  Sedan  and  at  Basel, 
where  in  Iti.ST  he  took  his  degree.  He  bc-ame  professor  of  medicine 
at  J.eyden,  where  he  exerted  a  powerful  influence  until  his  death  in 
1(>72.  Sylvius,  though  distinguished  as  a  physician  and  phvsioiogist 
was  essentially  a  chemist.  Through  his  efforts  the  curators  of  the 
Lniverstiy  of  Leyden  built  for  him  a  "Laboratorium"  which,  so  far 
as  we  know,  was  the  first  university  chemical  laboratorv.  He  devoted 
a  large  part  of  his  time  to  a  study  of  salts,  which  he  learned  to  rec- 
ognize as  resulting  from  the  union  of  acids  with  ba.ses.  Svlvius  looked 
upon  the  phenomena  of  life  from  a  chemical  point  of  view.  He  was 
well  versed  in  that  p.irt  of  physiology  derived  by  deductions  from  an- 
atomy and  by  expeiiments  on  animals.  His  opinions  on  the  circula- 
tion and  respiration  were  orthodox  from  our  moden,  viewpoint.  Har- 
vey's teachings  entered  largely  into  his  thoughts  and  it  was  chieflv 
through  his  advocacy  that  the  doctrine  of  the  great  discoverer  of  the 
circulation  of  the  blood  became  established  in  Holland.  The  contribu- 
tions which  Sylvius  made  to  science  were  essentially  chemical. 

Hoerhaave — Herman  Boerhaave.  are:idv  mentioned  .!-■.  ;•  rjniti-ih- 
utor  to  the  chemical  knowledge  of  alimentation,  was  born  in  ltit]8, 
near  Leyden,  wheiv  he  was  educated.  His  early  years  were  largelv 
devoted  to  the  classical  an;!  oriental  studies.  He  became  Ph   D.  in  1690, 


PATHFINDERS   OF  PHYSIOLOGY 


U 


havinp  obtained  the  dcpree  on  i  thesis,  the  subject  of  which  was  "Tiw 
Distinction  Between  Hody  and  Mind."  An  iimess  in  the  shape  of  an 
obstinate  ulcer  of  the  ie^^  turned  his  attention  to  medicine,  which  he 
studied  aldiijjr  with  tlie  anciUary  studies,  chemistrv  and  botany.  He 
was  fc'i-aduated  M.  D.  in  IC'X],  and  eventually  gave  up  the  idea  of  the- 
ology for  medicine.  In  1701  he  was  appointr'd  to  the  chair  of  medicine 
in  the  Lniversity  of  Leyden.  His  great  ability  ;is  teacher  caused  stu- 
dents to  flock  to  his  lectures.  His  wortli  was  (|uicklv  recogiuzed  bv 
the  authorities  of  the  university  who  increased  his  emolument  and 
endeavored  to  make  his  position  attracti'e  to  prevent  him  from  going 
elsewhere.  Sir  .Michael  Foster  says  of  him:  ".Much  .-duglit  after  as 
II  phy.sician,  acute  at  the  bedside,  biilliaiU  as  an  expositor  in  the  pro- 
lessorial  chair,  he  was  also  a  great  teacher  in  the  .sense  that  in  hi.s 
daily  intercourse  with  his  pupils  he  was  a!w;ps  readv  to  lav  hi-;  mind 
open  before  them  and  to  let  them  share  his  experience  and  hi.s 
thoughts.  Rus.sell  pays  the  following  tribute  to  RcH.rhaaveV  genius'- 
•hoerhaave  was  easily  the  most  remarkable  phvsician  of  his 
!nf.;„1  ?"""  '''I'"'  '!-^.'""  ''■';  ^•""t'^mplate  his  genius,  his  condition,  the 
■u  P.  nn/n,"'  ••■  ""^  ^''^yr'-^-  his  unfeigned  piety,  his  spotless  char- 
nn  Lf  .•  '  '""?•'■"'''  ^'^  '^'^^  ""^  ™'>'  ""  c.ntemporarv  practi.-e  but 
nliJ  "'  ^^"eceedmg  generations,  stands  forth  as  one  ,.f  the  brightes 
names  on  the  pages  of  medical  history,  and  mav  be  granted  a<  an  ex- 
ample not  only  to  physicians  but  to  mankind."  Boe?ha  ve  "s  a 
scholar  and  scientific  thinker,  too  broad  to  be  the  slave  f  one  idea 
He  wa.s  eclectic-  in  the  true  sense  of  the  term,  thoutrh  he  ne  ,-  •  ."d 
himself  with  the  medical  .sect  which  goes  bv  that  name  He  ha 
mind  open  to  truth  wherever  it  might  be'  sought  He  made  use 
?he  oTir^'V  :^^r  and  chemistry,  but  never  allowed  one  to  exclude 

Rn.r}..I:  ''"  ''''f^  -'^"bservient  to  the  elucidation  of  phvsiologv. 

Boerhaave  was  not  an  extreme  advocate  of  either  mechanicalor 
the  chem.ca  fermentative  school;  he  recognised  that  fS-'Si  n  Tn 
part  a  .solution  of  some  of  the  constitutmts  of  food  byme  n^T  of 
variou.s  juices,  which  he.  however,  regarded  not  of  the  Sure  of 
termen  at.on  He  denied,  however,  the  aciditv  of  the  gas  r". ice 
Colored  vegetable  juices  were  at  the  time  coming  to  be  u^e,  as  S 
now  use  htmus  paper,  in  reaction  tests.  Roerhaave  regarded  the 
solution  by  means  of  juices  only  as  part  of  the  digestive  process-  the 
remaining  process  he  held  consisted  of  trituration  in  the  stomach  by 
which  process  the  nutritive  parts  of  food  were  expressed.  His  views 
were  dominant  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

An  Epochal  Year  1757— The  years  1757  was  the  dividing  line  be- 
tween modern  physiology  and  all  that  had  gone  before.  It  was  the 
date  of  the  publication  of  the  first  volume  of  Haller's  Elementa  Fhys- 
lologia.  the  eighth  volume  of  whicli  appeared  in  1765.  Albrecht  vo'i 
Haller  was  born  at  Berne,  Switzerland,  in  1708.  The  sto-v  is  tolH  of 
his  early  precosity,  when  at  the  age  of  four  he  is  said  to  have  "'ex- 
pounded the  Bible  to  his  father's  servants.  Before  he  was  ten  he 
wrote  in  Latin  verse  a  satire  on  his  tutor.  Haller's  attention  had  been 
directed  to  medicine  after  his  father's  death  in  1721.  while  residing  in 
the  iiou.se  of  a  physician  in  Biel.  and  in  his  sixteenth  year  he  entered 
the  University  of  Tubingen.  Dissatisfied  with  his  progress  there  he 
went  to  Leyden  .where  Boerhaave  was  at  the  height  of  his  fame  '  He 
graduated  in  1727,  and  turned  his  attention  to  botany,  publishing  a 


30 


HALLER 


yoars.     During 
iiul  pliysioiojr;, . 
0.^  i)f  Inspiration, 
I  importance.  iJe- 


grcal  work  on  ihv  llura  of  Switzerland.  Ho  returi«ftl  to  Derno  .md  be 
gun  the  practice  of  medicine  in  17l;!I.  In  17;;()  he  wa.s  api)ointed  pro 
fe.ssor  of  medicine,  anatomy  and  botany  in  the  newly  founded  iiiiver 
sity  of  (Jottii.gtn,  a  i)osition  whicii  he  iiad  held  To;-  1  ,  voar.s.  Dii 
ti.i.s  time  he  carried  on  or>^rinal  i live.- titration  in  br)t;ii, . 
Hi.'i  )-e.searche.s  on  the  formatinn  of  bone,  the  nieehani 
and  llie  develoijnunt  of  tile  embryo  are  of  the  hiKhi 
gai-dinj,'  Ilaller  as  an  expositor  in  physiology,  l^'oster  write.s:  "Whv'n 
we  turn  irom  the  preceding  writers  on  phy.s'ioiogv  and  open  the  pages 
oi  Ihiiler's  Elementa,  we  feel  that  wo  pass  into  modern  times.  Save 
for  the  strangene.ss  of  mo.st  of  the  nomenclature,  and  for  no  small 
ditterences  in  all  that  relates  to  the  chemical  changes  of  the  bodv,  we 
.seem  to  be  reading  a  modern  text-book  of  the  most  exhaustive  kind." 
His  chief  service,  however,  was  tlie  c  ful  arr;\nging  and  digesting 
of  the  theories  and  facts  of  physiology  u,)  to  this  lime.  I-'rom  his  lime 
pliysioiogy  became  an  independent  l)-aneh  of  science,  to  i)e  pursued 
tor  itself  rather  than  as  an  adjunct  to  medicine.  Keganiing  Haller's 
method  of  exposition,  thi'  same  writer  goes  on  to  sav  that  "In  dealing 
with  each  subdivision  of  jiliysiology,  Haller  carefullv  describes  the 
anatomual  basis  including  tlie  data  of  minute  structure,  phvsical 
J.  :oi)erties  and  chemical  composition,  so  far  as  these  were  then  known. 
He  then  states  the  observations  that  have  been  made,  and  iii 
respect  to  each  question,  as  it  arises,  explains  the  several  views 
which  have  been  put  forward,  giving  minute  and  ful!  references  to 
ail  the  authors  (luoled,  and  he  (inallv  delivers  a  reasoned  critical  judg- 
ment expounding  the  conclusions  which  may  be  arrived  at,  but  not 
o:7iitting  to  state  ])lainly  when  necessary  the  limil;>,ti(tns  which  the 
lack  of  ade(|uate  evidence  places  on  forming  a  decided  judgment.  He 
carefully  recounts  and  as  carefully  criticizes  all  the  knowledt^e  that 
can  be  gleaned  about  ;iny  (picstion.  If  he  feels  unable  to  come  to  a 
decided  conclusion  hi'  candidly  says  so." 

But  we  are  most  concerned  at  present  with  what  Haller  has  to 
say  on  digestion.  He  considered  saliva  neutral  in  reaction  and  pos- 
sessing no  digestive  properties  further  than  the  softening  of  food  as 
an  aid  to  deglutition.  H(>  recogni/.ed  the  importance  of  the  glandular 
coat  of  the  stomach,  which  glands  he  conclud«>d  furnished  mucous 
only,  the  true  gastric  juice  being  derived  from  the  arteries.  He  also 
concluded  that  pure  gastric  juice  was  neither  ^>.cid  nor  alkaline  and 
ret  used  to  regard  it  as  some  of  his  pred.'cessors  had  done,  as  a  fer- 
ment. The  acidity  he  considered  a  token  of  the  degeneration  of  the 
digesteil  food.  Trituration  he  regards  as  a  u.seful  aid  to  dio-estion  es- 
pecially where  hard  grains  form  part  of  the  food  as  in  birds;  but  it 
was  only  an  aid. 

File,  he  claimed,  was  not  a  mere  excrement;  it  was  secreted  by 
the  liver  and  stored  for  a  time  in  the  gall  '  ladder,  where  it  underwent 
.slight  change.  Bile  is  a  viscid  fluid,  bitter  hut  neithi'r  acid  nor  alka- 
line. It  has  the  power  of  dissolving  fats,  and  so  acts  on  a  mixture 
of  oil  and  water  as  to  form  an  emulsion.  Haller  considered  the  im- 
portr.nce  of  the  pancreas  due  to  the  fa.ct  that  its  ducts  opened  into  the 
intr-;!ine  in  commnn  with  the  bile  duct;  that  its  fluid  .softened  and 
diluted  the  bile,  thus  enabling  it  to  mix  more  satisfactorlv  with  th^ 
food.  He  concluded  by  prophesying  that  there  may  be  other  func- 
tions of  pancreatic  juice  not  well  known  to  the  physiologists  of  his 
dav. 


PATHFINDICas  OF   ril\  SIOI.OCl'V 


II 


Reaumur  and  His  Methods.  Rone  Atitnino  IVichault  do  Roaumiir, 
a  Fri'iu  liin.in  Ixnn  in  K'l^.i,  arul  doscriliod  as  one  of  the  most  notal)K' 
men  of  science  of  tlie  ei^litei^nth  century,  is,  in  clironol()Ki<'al  se- 
(luence  next  most  important  eontril>utoi'  to  the  iilivsio'.o;,'^'  of  tlie 
alimentary  tract.  His  name  is  already  familiar  to  mcjst  of  us  as  the 
inventor  of  the  Reaumur  thermometer.  His  studies  on  the  gastric 
juice  at  this  time  are  all  important,  inasmuch  as  his  methods  are 
uni(iue.  Reaumur  had  in  his  possession  a  kite  and  took  advantage  of 
the  hal)it  of  the  bird  of  ejectinj,'  from  its  stomach  things  swallowed 
which  it  could  not  digest.  The  kite  was  fed  pieces  of  meat  secured 
in  metal  tubes.  It  was  found  that  meat  when  ejected  had  no  odor 
of  putrilication.  Kxperiments  were  made  with  small  pieces  of  bone, 
which  were  completely  dissolved  when  ejected  and  swallowed  by  the 
kite  several  times.  On  vegetable  grains  and  Hour,  the  lluid  of  the 
kite's  stomach  had  apparently  little  elfect.  The  tubes  were  tilled  with 
small  pieces  of  sponge,  which,  when  ejected,  were  si|ueezed  out,  thus 
enabling  the  investigator  to  procure  pure  gastric  juice  and  to  study 
it  in  vitro.  He  proved  that  digestion  was  not  putrilaction  but  some- 
thing really  opposed  to  that  process.  While  Reaumur's  experiments 
left  much  to  be  ascertained  about  gastric  digestion,  he  at  least  favored 
the  solvent  power  of  the  succus  gatricus,  by  the  employment  of  a 
wholly  new  method. 

Experiments  with  Ga.stric  .Juice.     We  must  look  to  Italy  for  the 

next  contributor  to  our  knowledge  of  digestion.  Parenthetically,  it 
is  of  interest  to  note  that  the  idea  of  specializing,  if  it  had  taken  root 
at  all  at  this  early  time,  was  not  markedly  apparent.  The  worker  in 
the  physiology  of  digestion  was  equally  prominent  in  almost  every 
other  dei)artment  of  physiological  research.  Lazzaro  Spallanzani 
(17:29-17!)!))  was  one  of  the  most  eminent  men  of  his  time.  Educated 
for  the  church,  he  was  usually  known  as  Abbe  Spallanzani.  His  life 
was  devoted  to  experiments,  researches  and  teaching.  He  was  pro- 
fessor at  Rologna,  and  afterwards  at  Pavia.  We  find  him  lirst  e.x- 
perimenting  with  germ  life,  with  results  that  disprove  the  doctrine 
of  spontaneous  generation.  His  researches  in  other  fields  showed  thai 
he  had  conceived  the  truly  scientific  method. 

Spallanzani  took  up  Reaumur's  methods  and  most  of  his  results 
wore  achieved  by  them.  Aided  by  improvements  in  chemistry,  he 
was  able  to  make  marked  advance  over  his  predecessors.  His  ex- 
pt  iments  were  made  on  all  kinds  of  animals,  fishes,  frogs,  serpents, 
birds,  sheep  oxen,  horses,  cats  and  dogs,  and  lastly  upon  himself.  Be- 
sides hollow  tubes,  he  used  hollow  spheres,  freely  perforated,  into 
which  were  placed  meat  and  bread,  bone  or  grains  of  wheat,  and  the 
results  of  digestion  were  studied  when  these  were  ejected  or  procured 
by  opening  the  animal's  stomach.  He  also  attached  pieces  of  meat  to 
threads,  which  he  would  draw  from  the  animal's  stomach  at  fixed  in- 
tervals. He  experimented  upon  himself  by  swallowing  iinen  bags  con- 
taining bread,  meat  and  similar  articles,  examining  the  contents  after 
they  had  been  voided  per  anum.  He  procured  gastric  juice  from 
himself  by  producing  vomiting  on  an  empty  stomach.  He  repeatedly 
tested  the  action  of  gastric  juice  in  vitro,  keeping  the  tubes  a  uniform 
temperature  by  retaining  them  in  his  ;,.m  pit,  using  the  .same  food 
covered  by  water  as  a  control.  He  found  that  gastric  juice  acted 
more  readily  upon  finely  divided  parts  of  food  such  as  crii-.hed  grain 


IS 


SPAI.LANZANI 


or  bono  which  proved  trituration  only  a  preparation  for  soliitioa,  and 
that  it  was  no  further  a  part  of  the  digestive  pi-oces.s. 

He  found  that  the  gastric  juice  dissolved  the  food  of  animals  into 
a  pnllaceous  mass  or  chyme.  He  observed  that  heat  favored  solution 
and  that  in  warm-blooded  animals  certain  hi^'h  ti'mperature  was 
necessary  for  the  chymilication  of  foods,  in  Spallanzani's  time  putri 
faction  was  considered  a  form  of  ft rmentation.  "There  are  three 
kinds  of  fermentation,  the  vinous,  the  acetous,  and  the  putrid."  The 
action  of  Kastric  Juice  was  not  jiutrid;  in  fact,  it  tended  to  arrest  put- 
refaction. Spallanzani  was  inclined  to  believe  that  the  .iction  of  the 
frastric  juice  was  neither  vinous  nor  acetous.  RijjrardinK  the  reaction 
of  gastric  juice  his  conclusion  was  that  it  was  neutral.  He  believed 
that  the  acidity  was  due  to  an  abnormality  of  the  stomach  contents, 
inasmuch  as  the  regurgitation  of  sour  material  from  the  stomach  oc- 
curred only  when  something  had  gone  wrong.  Spallan/.ani's  failure  to 
recognize  the  acidity  of  the  gastric  juice  limited  his  further  investiga- 
tions. He  could  only  conclude  that  the  action  of  the  gastric  juice  wa.« 
not  fermentation,  as  fermentation  was  understood  at  the  time. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  results  of  Reaumur  and  Spallan- 
zani were  confirmed  by  Stevens  of  Edinburgh,  who  likewise  employed 
Reaumur's  methods  of  investigation.  Stevens  experimented  oii  a 
"man  of  weak  understanding  who  gained  a  miserable  livelihood  by 
swallowing  stones  for  the  amusement  of  the  common  people."  The 
man  was  made  to  swallow  perforated  silver  spheres  containing  animal 
and  vegetable  food,  raw  and  cooked,  which  were  examined  when  void- 
ed some  48  hours  later.  Similar  experiments  were  made  on  dogs,  the 
content.s  of  the  hollow  spheres  examined  after  opening  the  animal's 
.stomach.  Stevens  concluded  that  digestion  is  not  the  effect  of  heat, 
trituration,  putrification  or  fermentation  alone,  but  of  a  powerful  sol- 
vent secreted  by  the  glandular  coat  of  the  stomach. 

Summary:  Summing  up  the  progress  made  in  the  physiology  of 
digestion  during  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  probably 
no  one  is  more  entitled  to  an  audience  than  Sir  Michael  Foster;  "Dur- 
ing the  two  centuries  the  seventeenth  and  the  eighteenth,  physiologi- 
cal inquiries,  swayed  now  in  one  direction  by  views  of  chemical  fer- 
mentation or  etferve.scence,  now  in  another  direction  by  views  of 
mechanical  trituration,  had  come  in  the  end  to  the  conclusion  that 
digestion  was  in  the  main  a  process  of  solution  of  a  peculiar  charac- 
ter, begun  and  chiefly  carried  out  in  the  stomach,  though  assi.sted  by 
minor  subsequent  changes  taking  place  along  the  intestines.  They 
who  were  under  the  influence  of  vitalistic  doctrines,  and  these  were 
I)erhaps  the  more  numerous,  held  the  change  to  be  the  commencement 
of,  to  be  the  first  step  in  the  conversion  of  food  into  living  flesh  and 
blood,  and  spoke  of  it  as  a  change  differing  from  ordinary  chemical 
change,  without  being  able  to  define  the  exact  characters.  It  was  left 
to  the  nineteenth  century  to  throw  new  light  on  the  nature  of  the 
gastric  changes  and  at  the  same  time  to  show  that  what  took  place 
in  the  stomach  was  not  the  whole  digestion,  but  only  the  first  of  a 

Kf*T'iPH  fif  T'iT'f i ff';! inrl  i'VinniTPJ^  t.Ml<incr  rilnpp  nlonc  nr^Mrlv  tHp  wHrili^  Ipn^rfli 

of  the  alimentary  canal." 


a 

e 


a 

3 


CHAPTER  III 


PHYSIOF.Or.Y  OF  OKJESTION— V\IIJJ  AM  HEAIMONT 

We  have  traced  the  development  of  the  physiology  of  alimeitn- 
tioii  from  it.H  criide  beKinninvrs,  when  tlebate  wa^i'd  as  to  whether 
dijfestion  consisted  of  mechanical  tri'ur'tion  or  whether  it  consisted 
wholly  of  a  fermentative  process,  to  the  time  w'len  some  real  lijrht 
bejran  to  he  shed  upon  the  subject  by  experiment  with  the  jratric 
secretion  itself.  No  contribution  to  the  subject  of  gastric  digestion 
has  been  of  such  moment  as  the  work  of  William  I'.eaumont  on  the 
Kastric  secretion  of  the  French  Canadian,  Alexis  St.  Martin  The  story 
of  lleaumont's  life  and  the  circumstan  •■■-  surrounding'  his  work  con- 
8titut"  one  of  the  most  fascinatinjf  chapters  in  the  history  of  Ameri- 
can Medicine. 

As  physicians,  we  have  become  familiar  with  the  names  of  Heau- 
mont  and  St.  Martin  early  in  our  student  career.  They  have  become 
inst  paralily  associated  with  the  study  of  j.'a-tric  juice  and  its  func- 
tions. Sia!i(lard  works  on  physiology  introduce  the  chapter  on  diges- 
tion with  such  sentences  as:  "Gastric  tistulae  have  been  made  in 
human  beings,  either  by  accidental  injury  or  by  surgical  operation. 
The  mo-t  celebrated  case  is  that  of  Alexis  St.  Martin,  a  young  Can- 
adian WHO  received  a  musket  wound  in  the  abdomen  in  1822.  Obser- 
vations made  upon  him  by  Dr.  Beaumont  formed  the  starting  point  of 
our  correct  knowledge  of  the  physiology  of  the  stomach  and  its  secre- 
tions."* "'I'he  (irst  fistula  of  a  digestive  gland  to  be  the  subject  of  a 
thoroughly  .scientific  investigation  was  one  resulting  from  a  gun  shot 
wound  m  the  stomach  of  a  Canadian  hunter.  As  the  conseiiuence  of 
his  accident,  the  hunter  had  all  the  rest  of  his  life  a  stomach  fistula 
opening  at  the  upper  part  of  the  abdomen,  through  which  the  interior 
of  the  stomach  could  be  ob.served  and  gastric  juice  could  be  obtained. 
Beaumont  collected  a  large  number  of  imp<jrtant  facts  (1825-1833) 
concerning  the  digestive  process  of  the  stomach  and  concerning  the 
movements  of  that  organ."  "Beaumont's  study  of  St.  Martin's  stom- 
ach showed  that  in  acute  catarrh  the  mucous  membrane  is  reddened 
and  swollen,  less  gastric  juice  is  .secreted,  and  mucous  cover-  the  sur- 
face." Instances  might  be  quoted  almost  ad  infinitum  of  references 
in  medical  literature  to  Beaumont's  classic  study  of  gastric  digestion. 

Beaumont;  His  Early  Life:  William  Beaumont,  the  third  child  of 
Samuel  Beaumont,  who  had  seen  active  .service  during  Fievolution  days 
prior  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  was  born  November  21st, 
1785.  There  was  nothing  unusual  in  his  childhood  and  youth.  As  he 
grew  to  manhood  his  sympathies  and  political  leanings  were  in  accord 
with  those  of  his  '' .  her,  who  was  a  staunch  Democrat  and  patriot. 
While  no  church  .  '  >rd  assures  us  that  he  was  of  the  faith  of  his 
parents,  Congregntionalist.  his  biocranhi-r  assert. s  th.it.  v. Hon  the  mil 
of  the  drum  announced  the  approaching  hour  of  worship  he  was 
among  those  who  slowly  wended  tl:  ir  way  over  the  hills  on  foot  or  on 


•ll.lliliiirtnii  ..;    HainlhiM.k    nf    IMiysiul  <.i; '■ 
Practice. 


Tii^^'Pstf'i.U's     rii>'.sioiogy ;     Osler'!^ 


u 


REAl'MONT 


horseback  to  the  old  meeting  house.  Beaumont  was  blessed  with  such 
rigorous  parental  discipline  in  youth  that  he  explained  his  lapses  in 
church  attendance  in  after  life  by  the  statement  that  during  his 
youth  he  had  made  up  for  a  lifetime  of  church  attendance.  Further 
than  that  he  was  a  courageous  and  fearless  boy,  litlle  is  known  of  his 
early  life.  It  is  said  !hat  he  develoj)ed  deafness,  which  became  more 
marked  as  he  gvvw  older,  from  standing  near  a  cannon  which  was 
beuig  fired,  simply  to  outwit  playmates  of  his  own  age. 

The  beginning  of  last  century  found  Heaumont  a  bov  of  fifteen 
years.  It  was  twenty-four  years  since  (he  first  birthday  of'  the  Ameri- 
can Nation.  P.caumonfs  youth  was  contemporaneous  with  one  of  the 
m()st  stirring  epochs  in  world  history.  The  Inited  States  was  begin- 
ning to  a-sume  an  important  place  among  the  nations  of  the  world. 
I.eaumont  leit  home  during  the  winter  of  18()G-7  with,  we  are  told,  an 
outtit  consisting  of  a  horse  and  cutter,  a  barrel  of  cider,  and  a  hundred 
dollars  ot  hard  earned  money.  He  traveled  Northward,  reaching  in 
the  spring  of  1807  the  little  village  of  Champlain.  New  York.  He  was 
very  favorably  impres.sed  with  his  surroundings  and  with  the  peonle, 
who  were  mostly  farmers,  and  whom  he  characterized  as  "[leaceful 
and  industrious  in  general."  Here  he  e-tablished  his  "Lares  and 
Penates"  and  followed  the  career  of  schoolmaster.  Coming  from  one 
of  the  best  New  England  schools  his  services  were  much  in  demand. 
\Miile  teaching  school  and  during  the  vacation  he  found  tir.i'  to  de- 
vote to  medical  studies.  He  had  supplieil  himself  v.ith  book-,  borrowed 
from  Dr.  Pomeroy  of  Burlington,  Vt.,  which  town  was  on  his  itinerary 
to  Champlain.  Beaumont,  as  many  since  his  day  have  done,  made 
teaching  a  stepping  stone  to  the  profession  of  medicine,  and  an  excel- 
lent experience  it  is  for  the  aspiring  savant.  In  1810  he  wa-  apprentic- 
ed to  Dr.  Chandler  of  St.  Albans.  Vt.  He  seems  to  have  exhibited  a 
wise  choice  in  the  matter  of  preceptor.  "Living  under  the  same 
roof."  writes  Dr.  Myer,  describing  the  medical  education  of  the 
times,  "as  was  customary  in  the  days  of  medical  apprenticeship,  the 
preceptor  could  ,  .ok  after  both  the  mind  and  morals  of  his  pupils. 
The  fledgeling  in  .eturn  for  the  instruction  received  at  the  hands  of 
his  master,  not  only  compensated  iiim  for  his  trouble,  but  performed 
many  of  the  menial  offices  of  a  servant  about  the  house  and  office. 
It  was  he  who  prepared  the  powders,  mixed  the  concoctions,  made 
pills,  swept  the  office,  kept  the  bottles  clean,  a.ssi-ted  in  operations 
and  often  through  main  force  supplied  the  place  of  the  anaesthetic  of 
today,  in  the  amputation  of  limbs  and  other  surgical  procedures.  He 
rode  about  with  the  doctor  from  house  to  house,  profiting  by  his  per- 
sonal experience  and  .jotting  down  on  the  pages  of  his  note  book  and  on 
the  tablets  of  his  memory  the  words  of  wisdom  that  fell  from  his  mas- 
ter's lips.  *  *  *  He  was  taught  the  symptoms  of  dise.ise,  the 
crude  method-  of  diagnosis,  the  art  of  prescription  writing  and  the 
process  of  cupping  and  bleeding,  considered  .so  effective  in  its  day."* 

Medical  books  were  rare  and  expensive,  and  fortunate  was  the 
student  who  had  access  to  them.  Dissections  were  rarely  performed, 
owing  largely  to  the  fact  of  inadequate  means  of  preserving  cadavers. 
Such  Were  young  Beaumont's  opDortunities. 

Beaumont  spent  the  two  years  of  his  apprenticeship  with  dili- 
gence, studyir.g  the  masters.     He  dis.^ected  whenever  an  opportunity 
•Life  and  letters  of  Dr.  Vlliam  Boaumoiit.  by  Jesse  S.  Myer. 


BEAUMONT  » 

afTorded,  and  never  lost  an  opportunity  to  perform  post-mortems.  A 
peru-al  of  his  case  histories  shows  what  a  careful  observer  he  was — 
a  qualification  of  the  first  importance  in  a  physician.  His  diploma  or 
license  to  practice  was  granted  the  second  Tuesday  of  June,  1812,  by 
the  third  Medical  Society  of  the  state  of  Vermont.    It  reads: 

By  ihc  Third  Medical  Society  of  the  State  of  Vermont  as  by  law  estab- 
lished, William  Beaumont  havinR  presented  himself  for  examination  on  the  anat- 
omy of  the  human  body,  and  the  theory  and  iir.i("i<'e  of  pliysie  and  surgery,  and 
being  approved  by  our  censors,  the  society  willinsly  recommends  him  to  the 
world  as  a  judicious  and  safe  practitioner  in  the  different  avocations  of  the  medi- 
cal profession.  In  testimony  whereof  we  have  hereunto  prefixed  the  signature 
of  our  president  and  the  seal  of  the  society  at  the  Medical  Hail  in  Burlington  on 
the  second  Tuesday  of  June,  A.  D.  1812. 

CASSIUS  F.  PO.MEROY.  Secretary.  .lOH.V  POMERV,  Presi(l"nt 


Assistant  Army  Surgeon:  In  September  the  same  year  Beau- 
mont joined  the  army  at  Plattsbir.'sh,  as  assistant  surpeon  under  Gen- 
eral Dearborn.  His  old  preceptor  Dr.  Chandler  had  unsuccessfully 
tried  to  dissuade  him  from  the  army  .service,  advising  him  to  settle 
down  to  private  practice.  Apparently  there  is  a  destiny  which  shapes 
our  end-.  Had  he  follow.-d  the  advice  of  his  old  master,  he  would  in 
all  pr.ibability  have  been  among  the  thousands  of  s^ood  men  who  have 
lived  their  lives  through,  leaving  the  world  a  little  better  than  they 
found  it,  and  passed  into  the  silent  land,  pass  and  leave  no  s\<xn  to  in- 
dicate that  they  have  been.  But  Beaumont  followed  his  own  bent  and 
it  was  while  acting  as  army  surgeon  that  he  made  the  momentous 
discoveries;  which  have  placed  him  among  the  epoch-makers  of  medi- 
cal history.  It  is  significant  to  note  that  more  than  one  army  sur- 
geon has  performed  service  of  an  extraordinary  ntiture  to  medical 
science.  Fom  the  times  when  Machaon  and  Podilirius  rendered  aid  to 
the  Greek  hosts  at  ancient  Troy  to  the  days  of  Ambrose  Pare,  the 
army  surgeon  ha.-  been  identified  with  medical  progress.  A  name 
honored  within  recent  years  in  the  French  .service  is  that  of  Laveran, 
who  during  his  tour  of  duty  in  Algeria  did  a  work  m  connection  with 
malaria  which  made  possible  the  nork  of  Sir  Ronald  Pioss,  of  the  In- 
dian medical  service,  and  his  associates  of  more  recent  times  s 
spectacle  of  the  Panama  Canal  and  its  construction  were  ma'  ' 
sible  by  the  United  States  Arm.y  medical  service.  In  the  British  . 
medical  service  are  such  names  as  Sir  David  Bruce,  whose  investiga- 
tions '.ed  to  the  extermination  of  Malta  f^ver. 

Beaumont's  Diary:  Beaumont  left  a  diary  which  is  an  interest- 
irg  description  by  one  on  the  firing  line,  of  the  stormy  tim.es  of  1812. 
'I'his  graphic  account  of  e\  ■  nts  of  the  war  by  an  eye-witness  is 
reproduced  in  Dr.  Meyer's  bo^ik  Beaumont  was  present  August,  1814, 
at  the  battle  of  Plattsburgh,  where  General  Macomb  defeated  the  Brit- 
ish under  General  Provost.  The  Treaty  of  Ghent  ratified  in  February, 
1815,  closed  the  v.-ar.  Soon  after  the  close  of  the  war  of  1812  Beau- 
mont tendered  his  resignation  and  in  partnership  with  a  Dr.  Sentcr 
opened  a  store  in  the  town  of  Plattsburgh,  which  store  contained  "a 
general  as.sortment  of  drugs,  medicines,  groceries,  dye  woods,  etc.,  of 
the  first  quality  and  choicest  selection  which  they  calculate  to  sell  on 
liberal  terms  for  cash  or  approved  credit."  So  runs  the  adver*^isement 


2(J 


pathfixiii:rs  of  physioloov 


in  the  local  newspaper.  In  the  footnote  of  the  adverti  ment  it  is 
stated  that  "Mediciiic-  will  be  put  up  with  accuracy  auvi  care."  In 
December  of  181G  Beaumont  sold  out  and  afterwards  confined  himself 
entirely  to  the  practice  of  his  profession.  He  was  commissioned  by 
President  Monroe  in  1820  and  re-entered  the  military  service,  when 
he  was  ordered  to  Fort  Mackinac  on  the  Northwestern  frontier.  He 
describes  his  journey  in  detail  in  his  diary.  His  course  lay  along  the 
southern  shore  of  Lake  Erie  to  the  Detroit  river,  where  he  passed 
Fort  .Maklen,  near  the  Canadian  town  of  Amherstburjr,  opposite  Bois 
Bla  .0  island.  He  describes  the  fort  at  Detroit  as  a  "regular  work  of 
an  oblong  figure  covering  about  an  acre  of  graceful  slopes."  The 
parapets  are  about  20  ft.  in  height,  built  of  earth  and  Mtdded,  with 
four  bastions.  The  whok>  surrounded  with  palisades,  a  deep  ditch 
and  glacis.  It  stands  immediately  back  of  the  town  and  has  strength 
to  withstand  a  siege.  The  Detroit  postoffice,  corrier  of  Fort  and  Shelby 
streets,  stands  upon  the  ground  at  one  *une  occupied  by  the  above 
mentioned  fortitication.  A  bronze  tablet  at  the  south  entrance  of  the 
postoffice  gives  in  brief  the  vicissitudes  of  the  old  fort. 

He  speaks  of  crossing  over  to  Sandwich,  then  a  small  French  vil- 
lage. There  is  no  mention  of  the  route  again  until  he  reaches  Fort 
Michiiimackinac,  which  is  desci-ibed  a-  handsomely  situated  on  the 
southeast  side  of  the  island  of  this  name,  on  a  bluif  rising  from  100 
to  200  feet  from  the  water,  almost  perpendicular  in  many  place;-,  ex- 
tending about  h;ilf  way  around  the  island.  The  word  "Michiiim.xcki- 
nac"  means  "turtle"  from  the  resemblance  ef  Mackinac  island  on  be- 
ing approached. 

The  folknving  eiUrie-^  in  his  diary  throw  considerable  light  on  the 
character  of  the  man  lumself. 

Sept.  9,  1S20.  Commenci'd  a  diary  of  conduct  on  Dr.  Franklin's  i)lan,  for  ob- 
taining moral  perfection."  (Uenjaniin  Franklin  api)ears  to  have  been  a  favorite 
Willi  Beaumont,  for  he  elsewhere  quotes  him  at  length.)  "Keading  Shakespeare 
tcjday  I  judged  the  following  extracts  worthy  of  copying;  'Love  all,  trust  few, 
do  wrong  to  none;  be  able  for  thine  enemy  rather  in  power  than  use;  and  keep 
thy  friend  under  thy  life's  key;  be  checked  for  silence,  but  more  taxed  for  speech. 

"inth.  Rose  at  six  o'clock.  Visited  my  patients  in  village  and  discliarged 
garrison  duty  before  :*  a.  m  Settled  my  hospital  account,  perused  scriiitures 
and  I'ope's  Kssay  on  Man  till  evening." 

Beaumont's  diary  is  an  interesting  narrative  of  the  limes,  written 
by  a  keen  and  practical  observer. 

The  Psychological  Moment:  Late  in  the  spring  of  1822  occurred 
the  event  which  made  the  name  of  William  Beaumont  famous  in  the 
annals  of  medicine.  Indians  and  voyageurs  had  returned  to  Mackinac 
with  the  re-ults  of  the  winter's  hunting.  A  strange  medley  of  hu- 
manity had  gathered  at  the  Amercan  Fur  C')mpany's  trading  post. 
On  the  Gth  of  June  a  gun  was  accidentally  discharged,  its  contents 
entering  the  upper  abdomen  of  a  young  voyageur,  leaving  a  cavity 
which  would  have  admitted  a  man's  fist.  According  to  an  eye-wit- 
ness Alexis  St.  Martin,  for  that  was  his  narne,  fell,  as  every  one  sup- 
posed, dead.  Dr.  Beaumont,  surgeon  of  the  fort,  was  called,  and  ar- 
rived shortly  after  the  accident.  Shot  and  pieces  of  clothing  were 
extracted  and  the  wound  dressed.    The  surgeon  then  left  with  the  re- 


in.Al.MO.NT 


27 


maik  that  tlie  man  could'"  "ive  36  hcurs.  The  doctor  called  apain  in 
the  course  of  two  or  thrt.  iiours  and  found  the  patient  better  than  he 
had  anticipated.  The  patient  was  rem()\-od  to  the  fort  hospital  where 
he  eventually  recovered,  leavinjr,  however,  a  permanent  pasti'ic  fistula. 
Beaumont's  own  afcoiinl  of  the  accident  is  told  in  the  introduction 
to  hi-  work  on  "Experim'^nts  and  Observations  of  (lastric  Juice." 

"Alexis  St.  Man  in,  who  ;>  ihe  subjoct  of  theso  exiieriment.s,  was  a  Caiiaiiian 
of  French  drscent  at  the  abovf  nipiitioned  time  (1S22|  about  IS  years  of  age,  of 
good  constitution,  robust  and  healthy.  He  liad  been  engaged  in  the  service  of 
the  American  Fur  ('(inipany  as  a  voyager  and  was  accidentally  wounded  by  the 
discharge  of  his  musket  on  the  6th  of  June;  the  charge,  consisting  of  powder  and 
duck-shot,  was  received  in  the  loft  side  of  the  youth,  he  being  at  a  distance  of  not 
mor"  than  one  yard  from  the  muzzle  of  the  gun.  The  contents  entered  posteriorly 
and  in  an  oblique  direction,  forward  and  inward,  literally  blowing  ott  integuments 
and  muscles  of  the  size  of  a  man's  hand,  fracturing  and  carrying  away  the  anter- 
ior liulf  of  the  sixth  rib,  lacerating  the  lower  portion  of  the  left  lung,  the  dia- 
phragm and  perforating  the  stomach.  The  whole  mass  of  materials  forced  from 
the  musket,  together  with  fragments  of  clothing  and  pieces  of  fractured  ribs, 
were  driven  into  the  muscles  and  cavity  of  the  chest.  1  saw  him  in  2.')  or  .30  min- 
utes after  the  accident  occurred,  and  on  examination  found  a  portion  of  the  lung 
as  large  as  a  turkey's  egg  protruding  through  the  external  wound,  lacerated  and 
burned;  and  imincdiafelv  below  this  another  protrusion  which,  on  further  ex- 
amination, proved  to  be  a  portion  of  the  stomach  lacerated  through  all  its  coats 
and  pouring  out  the  food  he  had  taken  for  his  breakfast  tnrotiph  an  orilice  large 
enough   to  admit   the  forefinger.  " 

Beaumont's  hospital  and  bedside  notes  give  a  complete  history 
of  the  case. 

Being  destitute  and  without  i-.ends  or  relatives,  Alexis  St.  Mar- 
tin became  a  pauper  on  the  town  of  Mackinac.  It  was  at  last  decided 
to  ship  him  to  his  native  town,  IMonUeal,  nearly  one  thous;in.l  miles 
away.  Beaumont,  however,  rescued  liim  from  misery  and  inimitable 
death  by  taking  him  into  his  own  family.  "During  this  time,  .says 
his  benefactor,  I  nursed  him,  fed  him,  clothed  hhn,  lodged  him  and 
furnished  him  with  every  comfort  and  dressed  hi-  wounds  daily  and 
for  the  most  part  twice  a  day."  It  should  be  realized  that  Beau- 
mont endeavored  to  close  the  wound;  that  when  all  other  means 
failed  he  suggested  incising  the  edges  of  the  wound  and.  "bringing 
them  together  by  sutures,  an  operation  to  which  the  patient  would 
not  submit." 

Not  until  three  years  after  the  accident  did  the  idea  of  perform- 
ing a  number  of  experiments  appear  to  occur  to  the  mind  of  Beau- 
mont. In  1825  he  began  to  realize  the  importance  of  this  case  which 
had  fallen  to  his  care,  when  it  occurred  to  him  what  a  great  service 
to  humanity  might  result  from  this  accident.  About  this  time  Beau- 
mont describes  the  situation  as  follows: 

'He  (.St.  Martin,!  will  drink  a  (luiirt  of  water  or  eat  a  dish  of  soup  and  then 
by  rt'moving  the  dressings  I  fr(  quently  (ind  the  stomach  inverted  to  the  size 
and  about  the  sliape  of  a  half-blown  rose,  yet  he  complains  of  no  pain,  and  It 
will  return  itself  or  is  easily  reduced  by  gentle  pressure.     When  he  lies  on  the 

the  processes  of  digestion.  1  have  frequently  suspended  flesh,  raw  and  wasted, 
and   other  substatices   into   the   perforation   to   ascertain   the   length   of   time    re- 


M 


PATHFINDERS  OF  PHYSIO-  OOY 


quired  to  digest  eaci  at  one  time  used  a  lent  of  raw  beef  liisdau  of  lint 

to  stop   tlie   orifice.   :         dh:  M    that   In   less   llian   five  liours   it   ^as   completely 
digested  off  as  smooth  and  as  even  as  If  it  liad  been  cut  with  a  knife." 

Then  his  resolve  to  make  u.se  of  tlie  case  as  a  means  of  study- 
ing ^-astric  digestion  takes  shape  as  follows: 

"Tliis  case  alTords  an  exeelleiit  opportunity  for  experimenting  on  he  gastric 
fluid  and  process  of  digestion.  It  would  give  no  pain  nor  cause  the  least  un- 
easiiifss  to  extract  a  gill  of  fluid  every  two  or  threo  days  for  it  freriuently  flows 
out  spontaneuii.^lv  in  >-oii.-<iderable  (luantities.  Various  kinds  of  digestible  sub- 
stances might  be  introduced  into  the  stomach  and  ;  en  easily  examined  during 
the  whole  process  ol  digestion.  I  may,  therefore,  be  able  hereafter  to  give  some 
Interesting  exprriiucnts  on  tliese  subjects." 

RecoKnilion  o!  Michii-an  Medifal  Society:  The  Medical  Society 
of  the  territory  of  Miciiigan  was  the  lirst  body  to  recognize  the  work 
of  '■.  illiam  Beaumont.  The  following  letter  dated  from  Detroit  an- 
nounced his  election  a.s  an  honorary  member  of  the  Micliigan  Territor- 
ial Medical  Society. 

"Dr.  William   Bea'imont,    I'liited   States  Array,   Michllimackinac. 

Detroit,  March  3,  1825. 

"Sir:  — It  is  with  much  pleasure  that  1  transmit  to  you  as  an  extract  from 
the  minutes  tf  the  medical  society  of  this  territory  at  a  meeting  held  at  the  home 
of  Capt.  Woodworth  in  the  City  of  Detroit  on  Monday,  7th  ultimo;  Dr.  William 
Beaumont,  of  the  United  States  Army,  duly  proposed  by  Dr.  Pitcher  and  unani- 
mously elected  by  ballot  an  honorary  member  of  this  society.' 

•Wliereupon   it    was   ordered   that   the  secretary   be   directed   to   inform   Dr. 
Beaumont  of  his  election  as  aforesaid. 
"1  remain,  sir,  with  much  respect, 

"Your  most  obedient  servant, 

"JOHN  S.  WHir'NCr, 
"Secretary  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  Territory  of  Michigan." 

The  first  experiments  were  carried  on  at  Mackinac  and  were 
continued  at  Fort  Niagara,  to  which  place  Beaumont  was  removed. 
While  on  a  visit  to  Burlington,  Vt.,  as  one  of  his  master's  household, 
Alexis,  whose  interest  in  science  had  long  ago  reached  the  vanishing 
noint,  ran  away  and  was  lo.st  to  his  benefactor  for  some  time.  This 
ungrateful  act  on  the  part  of  the  French-Canadian  proved  a  sore  dis- 
appointment to  our  "Backwoods  physiologist."  His  experiments  up 
to  this  time  were  to  estimate  the  length  of  time  requited  for  the 
digestion  of  certain  kinds  of  food,  which  were  suspended  in  the  stom- 
ach by  means  of  silk  threads  and  withdrawn  from  time  to  time  to  note 
the  changes  in  the  substances.  He  found  that  food  would  digest  more 
quickly  in  the  stomach  than  when  mixed  with  gastric  .juice  in  vitro. 

Four  years  after  St.  Martin's  unceremonious  departure,  Beau- 
mont got  in  communication  with  him.  In  the  tneantime  Alexis  had 
married  and  became  the  father  of  two  children.  The  doctor  took 
him,  his  wife  and  two  children  into  his  own  home,  where  Alexis  did 
duty  as  a  coiiiino!i  .>ei\aiil  win'n  rmi  fmpioyeii  lor  purpo.scs  oi  experi- 
mentation. Beaumont's  laboratory  etpiipment  consisted  of  a  thermo- 
meter, a  few  open  mouthed  vials  and  a  sand  bag.     His  observations 


BEAUMONT  ■» 

were  made  with  a  true  spirit  of  inquiry  and  with  no  particular  hypo- 
thesis to  support  Fifty-six  experiments  were  made  between  Dec. 
(Jth,  1829,  and  April  Dili,  18:51.  Alexis,  with  his  wife  and  family,  were 
permitted  to  return  home  to  Quebec  on  the  promise  to  appear  when 
again  wanted.  Beaumont  had  felt  that  he  had  accomplished  about  all 
he  was  able  in  his  researches  on  gastric  digestion,  and  he  longed  to 
go  to  Europe  a  year  and  take  St.  Martin  with  him,  that  the  work 
might  be  pursued  farther  by  more  competent  physiologic  chemists. 
The  brevity  of  his  furlough  precluded  the  idea  of  going  abroad  and 
instead  he  remained  in  Washington  with  Alexis  where  he  found  his 
surroundings  very  congenial.  Access  to  the  works  of  European 
physiologists  in  the  library  and  recognition  from  many  of  the  promi- 
nent men  at  the  capital  made  his  sojourn  pleasant. 

Between  Dec.  1st.,  1832  and  March  1st,  18:',;5,  wo  find  recorded 
116  experiments,  some  in  confirmation  of  what  had  been  done  before. 
He  tested  the  temperature  of  the  stomach  when  full,  when  fasting, 
when  exercising,  when  resting,  also  the  length  of  time  reciuired  to 
digest  various  food  substances.  He  also  experimented  to  disprove 
the  old  theory  of  maceration  or  mechanical  trituration. 

Seeks  Assistance  of  Two  leading  Scientists:  In  1833  Beaumont 
sought  the  assistance  of  two  of  the  leading  .'-•cientific  men  of  the 
United  States,  Robley  Dunglinson,  professor  of  physiology,  Univer- 
sity of  Virginia,  and  Benjamin  Silliman.  professor  of  chemistry  at 
Yale.  Thanks  to  Beaumont's  painstaking  and  methodical  nature,  the 
correspondence  between  the  two  and  himself  had  been  carefully  pre- 
served, and  it  constitutes  an  excellent  account  of  the  physiology  of 
the  period.  A  sample  of  gastric  juice  from  St.  Martin's  stomach  was 
sent  Dunglinson  for  analvsis  with  the  request  to  convey  to  the  giver 
the  results  and  to  refrain  from  publishing  anything  that  would  antici- 
pate the  labors  of  Beaumont  himself.  He  is  assured  that  the  profes- 
sor has  but  one  desire  in  the  prosecution  of  his  profession,  by  teaching 
and  practice  to  benefit  his  fellow  men,  which  could  always  Le  don- 
with  due  credit  without  forestalling  his  coadjutors  in  the  held  oi 
science,  or  arrogating  to  himself  merit  to  which  he  might  be  bui  sec- 
ondarily entitled.  Dunglinson  found  the  sample  of  gastric  juice  to 
contain  "free  muriatic  and  acetic  acid  and  phosphates  p.nd  murates 
with  bases  of  potassa,  ''oda,  magnesia  and  lime  and  animal  matter 
soluble  in  cold  but  not  in  hot  water." 

Professor  Silliman,  to  whom  a  bottle  of  gastric  juice  was  also 
submitted,  suggested  that  a  sample  be  .sent  to  Professor  llerzelius,  of 
Stockholm,  Sweden,  "as  the  man  of  all  others  best  qualified  to  investi- 
gate a  subject  of  such  deep  interest  to  mankind."  Accordingly  a 
bottle  of  the  digestive  fluid  was  packed  for  shipment.  Beaumont  s 
disappointment  may  be  imagined  when  it  was  known  that  the  parcel 
was  delayed  over  two  and  a  half  months.  This  he  learned  about  the 
time  he  was  patienlly  awaiting  the  r.,  suits  of  the  Swedish  professors 
investigations.  In  the  meantime  Beaumont  had  received  a  letter  from^ 
Professor  Silliman  enclosing  an  abstract  of  a  portion  of  a  sysiem  of 
chemistry  bv  Berzelius,  important  as  presenting  a  clear  idea  of  the 

, '..:_„   ..V  ii...   -..'.-. ■:r--:.-.1.-..-r-.-  .-.f  r\-.m^-*.'.r:v.    n f    tVint    timf    (1.S:?;^.>.      The 

communication  states,  among  other  things,  that  Prout.  Tiedeman  and 
Gmelin  gave  the  best  notions  on  the  subject  of  gastric  juice  and  ex- 


30 


rAriicixDEns  of  riivsioi.ocv 


pliiined  the  contradictory  statements  of  other  authors;  at  one  time  it 
was  said  to  bo  very  fhiid  clear  and  neutral  in  reaction;  then  alkaline, 
then  acid.  Prout  in  1824  declared  the  gastric  juice  to  contain  free 
hy(h()chIoric  or  muriatic  acid,  the  result  of  an  experiment  made  on 
the  contents  of  the  stomach  of  an  anim.al  killed  socm  alter  eating. 
Gmelin  and  Tiedeman  also  establisiied  the  presence  of  ^fvc  hydroch- 
loric acid.  The  fluid  of  the  empty  stomach  was  found  to  be  slightly 
acid,  sometimes  neutral  and  the  acidity  was  in  proportion  to  the  (luan- 
tity,  becoming  vei'y  acid  when  food  had  been  swallowed.  According 
to  Gmelin  and  Tiedeman,  the  salts  of  gastric  juice  were  principallv 
.<!odium  cl  ')ride  and  potassium  chloride  in  small  quant itiis,  hydro- 
chlorate  of  ammonia  and  a  little  sulphate  of  potassium.  The  com- 
munication conehuks  witii  the  assert i(,n  that  "no  organ  for  the  special 
seci-etion  of  the  gastric  juice  has  yet  been  discovered." 

Berzelius'  Reply  Disappointing:  Through  Professor  Silliman, 
Beaumont  eventually  lieard  from  lierzeliiis,  whose  letter  was  dated 
July,  18;M.  The  eommuiiieation  upon  wliieh  such  great  exiK'ctations 
were  placed  was  wholly  disappointing.  It  was  in  the  main  an  apologv 
for  the  writer's  inability  to  work  with  the  gastric  fluid  with  prospects 
of  results  of  any  %-alue,  owing  to  the  time  which  had  elapsed  since 
its  .secretion  and  its  arrival  at  his  laboratory,  to  the  possible  alteration 
on  account  of  summer  heat,  and  to  the  inadeciuate  ([uantity  received. 

Nothing  but  the  utmost  zeal  and  love  for  the  work  could  account 
for  the  persistence  with  which  Beaumont  pursued  his  researches.  He 
feU  not  only  the  handicap  of  inade(iuate  resources  and  facilities  for 
e.xpcrimentation,  but  St.  Martin  was  a  source  of  canstant  annovance 
to  him.  He  would  leave  his  master  and  benefactor,  often  absent  for 
several  years,  when  by  overtures  in  the  shape  of  money  he  would  be 
prevailed  upon  to  return  and  furnish  the  precious  fluid  for  his  ma 
ter's  uivestigation.  Beaumont's  lot  was  cast  at  a  time  when  it 
difficult,  almost  impossible,  to  obtain  governmiCnt  grants  for  the  pro- 
motion of  education.  His  work,  therefore,  has  been  accomplished  al- 
most entirely  at  his  own  expense. 

Attains  Fame  Through  Hi.s  Stomach:  St.  Martin  lived  the  life 
0.  the  l-rench  Canadian  habitant  mostiv  in  povertv,  though  physica'lv 
he  wa.s,  the  larger  part  of  his  life,  in  g(,od  condition.  Nine  vears  after 
his  notable  accident,  we  are  told,  he  took  his  family  in  an  open  canoe 
via  the  Mississippi,  passing  St.  Louis,  a.^cended  th.'  Ohio  River  then 
crossed  the  state  of  Ohio  to  the  lakes  and  de.<cended  the  Erie  and 
Ontario  and  the  River  St.  Lawrence  to  Montreal,  the  trip  consuming 
the  interval  Irom  March  to  June.  He  was  able  to  engage  in  manual 
labor  requiring  considerable  strength  and  endurance.  Perhaps  his  ex- 
treme poverty  IS  due  to  lack  of  thrift  and  to  intemperance,  for  we  are 
told  that  he  indulged  immoderately  in  the  "glass  that  cheers  " 

The  longevity  of  ihe  habitant  is  evidenced  in  St.  Martin  for 
he  lived  twenty-eight  years  after  the  death  of  Beaumont  St  Mar- 
tin's death  occurred  in  his  eighty- ^hird  vear.  Sir  William  Osier  at 
the  time,  (1880)  a  resident  of  .Montreal,  reading  of  his  death,  wrote 
the  local  physician  and  parish  priest  urging  them  to  secure  for  him 
tin-  iHiMieKe  of  ail  auiopsy,  aiut  at  the  same  time  olfering  a  goodly 
sum  for  the  stomach,  which  he  intended  to  place  in  the  Army  Medi- 
cal Museum  at  Washington,  but  his  entreaties  were  of  no  avail    the 


s- 
was 


HKArMON"!' 


SI 


body  was  interred  eight  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  ground,  after 
being  detained  at  home  much  longer  than  the  usual  perind,  so  that 
decomposition  setting  in.  miyht  bailie  the  doctors,  and  prevent  any 
attempts  at  resurrection. 

Beaumont  Resigned  From  Army:  William  Beaumont  resigned 
his  po.sitiuii  as  •irniy  siirgi-on  in  lS:'>i).  He  ontinui'ii.  however.  t(> 
attend  llu'  famih's  of  the  olficers  at  St.  Louis,  where  he  made  his 
home.  Owing  to  the  distance  from  St.  Louis  of  his  successor,  who 
was  stationetl  ten  nii!(  s  away,  he  presented  an  account  to  the  NVar 
Department  for  pmfessional  services  covering  a  period  of  a  few 
months,  which  services  he  conceded  "irregular  and  informal,"  but 
"correct  and  just."  On  receipt  of  his  account  the  surgeon-general 
threatened  either  to  ignore  the  bill  or  to  deduct  the  amount  from 
the  salary  of  Beaumont's  successor.  The  manner  in  which  Beau- 
mont received  the  thixat  showed  the  independent  nature  of  the  man. 
He  declared  the  surgeon-gemrars  view  at  "absurd  opinion,  con- 
tracted view,  narrow-minded  vindictive  spirit  and  petty  tyrannical 
disposition,"  of  the  "weak,  waspish  and  wilful  head  of  a  medical  de- 
partment," and  congratulated  himsflf  over  having  the  "privilege  of 
detesting  a  man,  the  motives  and  the  mind  from  which  such  egregius 
folly,  parsimony  and  injustice  could  emanate  and  be  promulgated." 
The  Surgeon-Ceneral  was,  however,  unyielding,  and  Beaumont's  claims 
were  unrecognized. 

Though  severed  from  the  War  Department,  he  still  had  a  very 
lucrative  practice,  and  what  is  above  any  monetary  consideration,  de- 
voted friends,  and  was  very  happy  in  his  domestic  relations.  The 
following  pa.ragraph  ([uoted  in  Dr.  Myer's  Life  and  Letters  of  Bea  i- 
mont  gi\'es  a  splendid  estimate  of  his  character: 

"Dr.  lieinniiont  possessed  gr(>at  lirnuiess  ;iml  dotermination  of  purpose'. 
UilTkultios  winch  would  have  distouragt-'d  most  nicn.  ho  nevor  aUowed  to  turn 
liiin  from  his  course.  These  lie  did  not  attempt  to  evade  but  to  mocl  and  overcome. 
He  possc^ssed  more  than  any  man  I  ever  knew,  a  knowledge  almost  intuitive  of  hu- 
man cliaracter.  You  might  have  introduced  him  to  20  different  persons  in  a 
dii.v,  all  strangers  to  liim.  and  he  would  liave  given  you  an  accurate  estimate  of 
the  chaiacler  of  eacli,  his  peculiar  traits,  disposition,  etc.  He  was  gifted  with 
strong  natural  powers  which,  working  upon  an  extensive  experience  in  life,  re- 
sulted in  a  species  of  natural  sagacity,  which  I  suppose  was  something  peculiar 
to  him  not  to  be  attained  by  any  course  of  study.  His  temperament  was  ardent 
but  never  got  the  better  of  his  instructed  and  disciplined  judgment,  and  when- 
ever or  however  employed,  he  always  adnpted  the  most  judiciou.i  means  of  ob- 
taining ends  that  were  always  honored.  In  the  sick  room  tie  was  a  model 
of  patience  and  kindness;  his  intuitive  perceptions  guiding  a  pure  benevolence 
never  failed  to  inspire  conlidence.  Thus,  he  belonged  to  that  class  of  physicians 
whose  very  presence  affords  nature  a  sensible  relief." 

He  died  on  April  25th,  1858.  His  death  was  considered  the  re- 
sult of  injuries  he  received  by  slipping  on  icy  steps  while  making  a 
proiessiOiiai  m.mi.  \\  iial  a  salisiaciion  such  a  iiie  must  be,  and  the 
resignation  with  which  one  might  approach  the  infirmities  of  old  age 
and  one's  final  destiny.  And  indeed  a  few  rr'onths  befora  the  end  he 
breathed  forth  this  beautifuly  symphony: 


sa 


PATHFINDERS  OF  FIIYSIOLOGY 


"Myatlt  and  wife,  not  unlike  John  Anderson  my  Jo,  have  climbed  the  hill  o' 
life  tonitlier,  and  mony  a  canty  day  we've  had  wl'  ane  anlther.  I'.iii  now  we 
maun  totter  down  life's  ebhiiiK  wane  in  peaceful  (|uiet  ease  and  conipii"  ni c,  with 
Just  so  iniicli  sellishness  and  social  syn  athy  aa  to  he  salis(l"(l  with  "Mr->  Ives,  our 
children  and  frteiids,  caring  Utile  for  t.io  formalities,  follies  and  fashions  of  the 
present  a^-e.  •  •  •  Conie  when  it  may,  we  only  ask  God's  blessing  on  our 
frosted  brows  and  hand  In  hand  we  will  go  to  sk>ep  together." 

DR.  BEAl  MOM'S  BOOK. 

I  am  fdi-Uiiiate  in  having  be  fort'  mo  an  original  copy  of  Dr.  Beau- 
moiU's  work.  Tlu'  tilii'  pagf  bears  tlio  following  (Inscription:  "Ex- 
perinu'nts  and  Ub.servations  on  the  Gastric  Juice  ami  the  Physiology 
of  Digestion,  bv  William  fkaiimont,  M.  D.,  Surgeon  in  the  United 
States  Army.  "Plattsburg.  Printed  by  F.  P.  Allen,  18;}:5."  The  vol- 
ume is  dedicated  to  Jo.seph  Lovell,  M.  D.,  Surgeon  General  of  the 
United  States  Army.  The  work  comprises  280  pages,  122  of  which 
deal  with  "I'leiirninary  Remarks  on  the  Physiology  of  Digestion." 
The  remainder  deals  with  Experiments  and  Observations  on  the  Stom- 
ach of  Alexis  St.  Martin.  The  lirst  part  is  divided  into  seven  sections, 
as  follows:  1st,  Of  Ailment;  Section  two  of  Hunger  and  Thirst; 
Section  three  of  Satisfaction  and  Satiety;  Section  four  of 
.Mastication,  Insalivation  and  Deglutition;  Section  five  of  Digestion 
by  Gastric  Juice;  Section  six  of  the  Appearance  of  the  Villous  Coat 
and  of  Motions  of  the  Stomach;  .Se-  lion  seven  of  ('hyliflc;..ion  and 
Uses  of  the  Bile  and  Pancreatic  Juice.  There  are  three  illustrations, 
consisting  of  crude  wood  cuts  of  the  gastric  fistuke.  The  typograph- 
ical apiiearance  of  the  work  should  be  c  )nsidsred  creditable  consider- 
ing the  printing  art  at  the  time.  The  conclusion  of  the  second  part  of 
the  work  contains  51  inferences  made  from  the  foregoing  experiments 
and  ob.scrvations.     Of  these  I  shall  quote  a  few: 

That  dispstion  is  facilitated  by  minuteness  of  division  and  tenderness;  "f  fibre 
and  retarded  by  the  opposite  qualities. 

That  the  quantity  of  food  generally  taken  is  more  than  the  wants  of  the 
system  nijuire,  and  tliai  excess,  if  persevered  in,  generally  produces  not  only 
functional  aberration  but  disease  of  the  coats  of  the  stomach. 

That  bulk  as  well  as  nutriment  is  necessary  to  the  articles  of  diet. 

That  oily  food  is  difficult  of  digestion,  though  it  contains  a  large  proportion 
of  the  nutrient  principles 

That  stimulating  condiments  are  injurious  to  the  healthy  stomach. 

That  the  use  of  ardent  spirits  always  produces  disease  of  the  stomach  if 
persevered  in. 

That  the  ager'  of  chymification  is  the  gastric  Juice,  which  acts  as  a  solvent 
of  food  and  alters  its  properties. 

That  the  action  of  gastric  Juice  is  facilitated  by  the  warmth  and  motions  of 
the  stomach. 

That  it  coagulates   albumin   and  afterwards  dissolves  the  =oa."ulum. 
ciples. 

'iiiai  iiic  ga.-!iiii_  Juiee  i=  seuieteu  from  vessels  disii'ici  from  the  mucous 
f.dliclcs. 

That  bile  is  not  ordinarily  found  in  the  stomach  and  is  not  commonly  necea 
sary  for  the  digestion  of  food,  but  assises  in  the  digestion  of  oily  foods. 


DEAl'MONT 


That  the  Inner  roat  of  the  gtomiich  Is  of  pale  pink  color,  ra.Tlng  In  Its  hues 
accordUiK  to  U»  full  or  empty  stato. 

That  the  motions  of  the  Btoniach  produce  a  constant  churning  of  Its  contentB 
and  admixture  of  the  food  and  gastric  juice. 

That  these  motions  are  In  two  directions,  transverse  and  longitudinal. 

Beaumont  failed,  however,  to  ascribe  any  digestive  function  to 
the  saliva.  Ho  maintained  that  food  finely  divided  placed  directly 
into  the  stomach  was  as  completely  digested  as  that  which  entered 
by  the  oesophageal  route. 

When  he  began  his  work  the  status  of  the  physiology  of 
digestion  had  been  very  well  described  by  \\'illiam  Hunter;  "some 
physiologists  will  have  it  that  the  stomach  is  a  mill;  others  that  it  is 
a  fermenting  vat;  other  again  that  it  is  a  stew  pan;  but  in  my  view 
of  the  mailer  it  is  neither  a  mill,  a  fermenting  vat  nor  a  stew  pan,  but 
a  stomach,  gentlemen,  a  stomach."  When  William  Beaumont  com- 
pleted his  labors  there  was  a  marked  advance  in  knowledge  of  the 
digestive  process.  Among  the  most  important  results  of  his  worlj 
was  his  complete  and  accurate  description  of  the  gastric  juice,  which 
has  been  quoted  in  so  many  text  books  since  his  day. 

"Pure  nastric  Juice  when  taken  directly  out  of  the  stomach  of  a  healthy  adult, 
unmixed  with  any  other  fluid,  save  a  portion  of  the  mucus  of  the  stomach  with 
which  it  is  most  commonly,  perhaps  alway.s  combined,  is  a  clear,  transparent  fluid; 
inodorous;  a  little  saltish,  and  perceptibly  acid.  Its  taste,  when  applied  to  tbe 
tongue,  Is  similar  to  mucilaginous  water,  slightly  acidulated  with  muriatic 
acid.  It  is  readily  diffusible  in  water,  wine  or  spirits;  slightly  effervescent  with 
alkalies,  and  is  an  effectual  solvent  of  the  materia  allmentarla;  It  possesses  the 
property  of  coagulating  albumin  in  an  imminent  degree;  it  Is  a  powerful  anti- 
septic, checking  the  putrefaction  In  meat;  and  effectually  restorative  of  healthy 
action  when  applied  to  old  foetid  sores  and  foul  ulcerating  surfaces." 

His  work  confirmed  the  observation  of  Prout,  that  the  acid  con- 
tents of  the  gastric  secretion  was  hydrochloric.  He  recognized  the 
fact  that  the  elements  of  the  gastric  juice  and  the  mucus  of  the  stom- 
ach were  a  .separate  secretion.  He  established  by  direct  observation 
the  marked  influence  of  mental  states  on  the  secretion  of  gastric  juice 
and  on  digestion.  His  was  the  first  comprehensive  and  thorough 
study  of  the  motions  of  the  stomach ;  and  to  quote  Osier:  "His  study 
of  the  digestibility  of  different  articles  of  diet  in  the  stomach  remains 
today  one  of  the  most  important  contributions  ever  made  to  practical 
dietetics." 

A  German  edition  of  the  work  was  issued  in  1834.  In  1838  Sir 
Andrew  Combe,  an  eminent  English  physician,  published  an  English 
edition  of  the  work,  so  as  to  give  it  greater  publicity  in  the  British 
Isles.  Probably  no  fairer  or  more  impartial  estimate  of  the  value 
of  Beaumont's  contribution  to  science  has  been  made  than  that  of 
Sir  Andrew  in  his  preface  to  the  British  edition.  Answering  the 
objection  that  Beaumont  had  made  no  original  discovery  in  the  phys- 
ology  of  digestion,  this  advocate  claims  that  by  "separating  the  truth 

,.1..-.i.1..    .....3 *....,.,. 11..    »—-.—.    i-^-.    _. __,-_     ..  ..,. ..  -^   J?        i     _        "     _  —  • 

ciCciny  ciiiu  uiivjciuivuctiiiy  injm  tuc  iiuiiic-iou.^  cnuiS  oi  laCl-  aiitl  upiii- 
ion  with  which  it  was  mixed  up,  and  thus  converting  into  certainties 
points  of  doctrine  in  regard  to  which  positive  proof  were  previously 
inaccessible,  he  has  given  to  what  was  doubtful  or  imperfectly  known 


14 


PATHFINDERS    OF    PHYSIOLOGY 


a  fixf'd  and  positive  value  which  it  never  had  before,  and  which,  being 
once  obtained,  goes  far  to  furnish  us  with  a  clear  conn<  cted  and  con- 
sistent view  of  the  general  process  and  laws  of  digestion." 


CM-ATDK   l!l-;U.\AI!l).    I'llVSIOI.OClS  I'. 
1^!.!-1.S7K 


CHAPTER  IV. 


GLYCOGENIC 


FUNCTION     OF     THE     LIVER— VASOMOTOR 
NERVES— CLAUDE  BERNARD. 


"For  a  man  to  bo  an  Invt'stlKator  of  the  flrst  order  two  Klfla  are  perequlclte 
It  Is  not  merely  neceBsary  to  imsseBs  a  wellordered  and  what  we  may  term  a 
philosophic  ImaKinatlon,  to  possess  a  mind  that  Is  capable  of  balanclnn  phenomcoa. 
soeInK  their  relationship  and  <leduelnK  problems  that  have  to  be  solved  and  the  way 
in  which  to  solve  them;  there  must  be  something  more,  namely,  a  mechanical 
ability,  a  lovo  for  Lchnlque,  and  a  capacity  t  <  construct  and  manipulate  the  ap- 
proprlate  Instruments  This  ts  particularly  Deceseary  In  connection  with  pbysto- 
loglcal  resarch."— Adaml 

The  real  life  of  every  notable  character  lies  in  the  story  of  his 
achievement,  rather  than  in  how  he  passed  his  days.  Human  interest, 
however,  loves  •  ,  dwell  on  the  details  of  how  he  moved  among  his 
fellowmen  and  the  vici.ssitudes  that  befel  him  on  his  path  through 
life.  Often  .n  the  lives  of  our  greatest  men  these  details  which  con- 
stitute the  human  touches  have  not  been  recorded.  Not  every  John- 
son has  his  Boswell,  and  we  must  content  ourselves  with  the  frag- 
mentary da- a  that  have  been  pre.served.  Such  has  been  the  fate  of 
Claude  Bernard,  the  first  centenary  of  whose  birth  is  now  the  sub- 
ject of  commemoration. 

Early  Life  and  Education— Let  me  give  a  brief  summary  of  his 
life.  He  was  born  on  July  12th,  1813,  of  humble  parentage ;  his  father 
owned  a  small  farm  at  St.  Julien,  near  Lyons,  France.  The  vintage  of 
the  little  estate  which  was  situated  in  the  wine  district  of  France  pro- 
vided the  family  revenue.  The  property  eventually  came  into  the 
hands  of  the  son,  who  spent  his  summers  there  within  v^ -w  on  clear 
days,  of  the  white  summits  of  the  Alps.  Bernard  recei  d  his  early 
education  at  his  native  village  and  afterwards  at  Lyons.  His  educa- 
tion was,  however,  cut  short  by  necessity,  which  turned  him  to  prac- 
tical pharmacy  as  a  means  of  earning  a  living.  The  young  man  pos- 
sessed that  "fine  frenzy"  which  makes  "the  lunatic,  the  lover  and  the 
poet"  of  "imagination  all  compact,"  and  was  on  the  point  of  giving  up 
the  calling  which  had  engaged  his  attention  for  two  years,  for  litera- 
ture. His  literary  aspirations  drew  him  towards  the  dramatic  art,  and 
it  is  hard  to  predict  what  the  future  physiologist  might  have  given  to 
the  world  had  not  the  divine  flame  been  smothered  by  a  more  prosaic 
career  of  investigator.  He  was  the  author  of  a  comedy,  "The  Rose  of 
the  Rhone,"  which  had  met  with  a  certain  amount  of  success.  But  des- 
tiny had  reserved  Bernard  for  another  and  very  different  calling. 
He  submitted  his  work  to  the  great  French  critic,  St.  Marc  Girardin, 
who,  while  recognizing  its  merit,  advised  the  young  aspirant  to  lit- 
erary fame  to  pursue  a  more  lucrative  callincr,  to  enease  in  soms 
pursuit  in  which  he  could  earn  his  bread  and  to  court  the  Muses  only 
in  his  leisure  moments.  "You  have  studied  pharmacy, '  said  the 
critic,  "study  medicine;  you  will  thereby  much  more  surely  gain  a 
livelihood."    Bernard  followed  this  advice  with  heart  and  soul,  de- 


3S 


PATHFINDERS  OF  PHYSIOLOGY 


fraying  his  expenses  by  tutorage.  The  literary  longings  began  to 
fade  as  the  young  savant  waxed  warm  with  his  medical  studies. 
Anatomy  and  physiology  claimed  the  greater  portion  ot  his  Lttention 
and  energy.  His  remarkable  mamal  dexterity,  in  which  ne  was  par- 
ticularly fortunate,  rendered  his  dissections  of  singular  completeness 
and  value.  The  chaotic  condition  of  physic'.ogy  of  the  time  (1840) 
served  to  awaken  in  his  mind  a  desire  to  solve  prob'ems  by  direct 
experimental  appeal  to  nature.  He  was  one  of  the  first  to  employ 
animal  experimentation,  or  vivisection.  In  .841  he  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  great  Majendie,  then  the  leading  physiologist  of 
France,  also  Professor  of  Medicine  in  the  College  of  France.  Ma- 
jendie is  described  as  being  in  manner  abrupt  and  even  rough  and 
rude.  At  first  he  took  little  notice  of  Bernard,  his  new  interne,  but 
was  soon  impressed  with  the  young  man's  dexterity  and  .skill.  One 
day  while  Beriiard  was  busy  ;  t  his  dissecting,  Majendie  blurted  out: 
"I  say,  you,  here.  I  take  you  as  my  preparateur  at  the  College  of 
France."  And  it  was  not  long  before  the  master  had  occasion  to  .^ay 
in  his  gruff  way  as  he  left  the  class-room:  "You  are  a  better  man 
than  I  am."  Bernard's  career  as  physiologist  may  be  said  to  date 
from  this  appointment  in  "'841. 

Claude  Bernard  was  of  a  retiring,  silent  nature,  difficult  to  und(  '• 
stand  and  often  misunderstood.  Michael  Foster  describe.i  him  as 
"tall  in  stature,  with  a  fine  presence  and  a  noble  head,  the  ^yss  full 
at  once  of  thought  and  kindnes-s;  he  drew  the  look  of  observers  upon 
him  wherever  he  appeared.  As  he  walked  the  streets  passeis-by 
might  be  heard  to  say,  'I  wonder  who  that  is ;  he  mu.st  be  some  dis- 
tinguished man.'  " 

The  'Productive  Period — Bernard  had  shown  the  precious  metal  of 
his  genius  before  he  was  far  on  in  his  twenties.  Nearly  all  of  his  great 
achievements  were  accomplished  during  the  period  of  his  life  which 
ended  with  1860.  The  essential  results  of  his  two  greatest  discoveries, 
the  glycogenic  function  of  the  liver  and  the  vaso  motor  nerves  were 
gained  prior  to  1850,  before  he  was  37  years  old.  He  is  illustrative  of 
Oslei-'s  declaration  that  the  world's  best  and  most  important  work 
was  mainly  done  by  young  men,  for  further  example:  Mor- 
gagni's  germinal  idea,  which  made  him  the  father  of  modern  path- 
ology, came  to  him  when  he  was  .scarcely  twenty;  Auenbrugger 
began  his  work  upon  percussion  when  he  was  under  twenty-five;  Laen- 
nec  undertook  t  he  problem  of  constructing  a  system  of  au.scultation  in 
his  early  twenties  and  published  his  book  when  he  vv'as  not  yet  thirty- 
five. 

All  significant  work  in  medicine  has  had  its  basis  in  observation, 
not  theory.  Men  have  been  prone  to  theorize  too  much  and  to  observe 
too  little.  For  two  thousand  years  the  learned  men  of  Europe  de- 
bated as  to  whether  this  or  that  place  was  the  site  of  ancient  Troy,  or 
whether  there  ever  was  such  a  place  at  ail.  It  remained,  however,  /or 
a  retired  man  of  business,  Schliemanii,  to  decide  the  question.  He 
.said,  "Let  us  go  and  see,"  and,  at  the  expense  of  a  few  thousand 
pound.s.  he  went  and  found  Troy  and  Mycenae  and  revealed  or  dis- 
covered the  wiioie  matter — '  'iiie  most  treinenduus  iuiii  pjciUieoMue  tri- 
umph of  the  scientific  method  over  mere  talk  and  pretended  historic 
learning,"  says  Ray  Lancaster,  "which  has  ever  been  since  human 


GLYCOGENIC  FUNCTION  OF  UVEK 


37 


record  has  existed."  Emerson  has  said:  "I  am  impressed  with  the 
fact  that  the  greatest  thing  a  human  soul  ever  does  in  this  world  is 
to  see  something  and  tell  what  it  saw  in  a  plain  way.  Hundreds  of 
people  can  talk  for  one  who  can  think,  but  thousands  can  think  for 
one  who  can  see.  To  see  clearly  is  poetry,  philosophy  and  religion  all 
in  one."  And  we  might  add,  that  rare  quality  of  mind  which  enables 
its  possessor  to  see  clearly  is  the  sine  quo  non  of  the  true  scientist. 

Gastric  Digestion—Among  Bernard's  earliest  investigations  was 
that  of  gastric  digestion.  It  was  important  chiefly  as  a  prelude  to  the 
momentous  discoveries  he  afterwards  made.  He  was  the  first  to  m- 
quire  into  the  differences  to  be  found  between  the  digestive  appara- 
tuses and  functions  of  plant-eating  and  meat-eating  animals— 'uotvveen 
the  herbivora  and  carnivora.  The  former  thoroughly  masticate  their 
food,  while  the  latter  bolt  theirs.  This  in,^tinct  is  explained  by  the  fact 
that  the  food  of  the  plant-eating  animal  contains  a  relatively  large 
amount  of  starch,  requiring  thorough  admixture  of  saliva  as  an  aid  to 
its  di;?estion.  Those  animals  subsisting  on  meat-protein  do  not  require 
the  aid  nf  the  saliva,  which  accounts  for  the  rapidity  with  which  they 
devour  their  food.  From  this  Bernard  turned  to  study  the  function 
of  the  pancreatic  juice.  Up  to  this  time  the  pancreas  had  been  passed 
over  in  silence  by  the  phvsiologists  of  the  day.  He  demonstrated  its 
three-fold  action:  "He  showed  that  it,  on  the  one  hand,  emulsified, 
and,  on  the  other  hand  split  up  into  fatty  acids  and  glycerine,  the 
neutral  fats  that  are  discharged  from  the  stomach  into  the  duodenum. 
He  proved  it  had  a  powerful  action  on  starch,  converting  it  into 
sugar."  The  studv  of  the  action  of  the  pancreatic  juice  upon  proteins 
begun  by  Bernard  was  continued  by  Kuhne,  his  pupil,  who  investi- 
gated tlie  action  of  extracts  of  the  gland.  Pancreatic  juice  as  se- 
creted does  not  possess  proteolytic  powers.  This  change  under  nornial 
conditions  is  brought  about  by  the  activating  substance,  enteroki- 
nase,  contained  in  the  succus  entericus  producing  as  soon  as  the 
pancreatic  juice  enters  the  gut,  the  change  from  the  inert  typsinogen 
to  trypsin,  thus  acquiring  an  activity  over  proteins  superior  to  that 
of  any  other  digestive  juice.  iStarling).  Up  to  Bernard's  time  the 
principal  role  of  digestion  had  been  confined  to  the  gastric  juice,  \\ith 
his  di.scoveries  it  became  cuar  that  the  action  of  the  gastric  juice  on 
the  food  in  the  stomach  was  simply  preliminary  to  intestinal  diges- 
tion and  that  the  chief  work  in  the  preparation  of  the  food  for  ab- 
sorption was  accomplished  by  the  pancreatic  juice. 

Discovers  Glycogenic  Function  of  Liver— Important  as  were  his 
numerous  contributions  to  our  knowledge  of  physiology,  Claude  Ber- 
nard is  probably  best  known  as  discoverer  of  the  glycogenic  function 
of  the  liver.  The  story  of  his  discovery  is  interesting  and  well  worth 
relating.  The  dominant  opinion  among  physiologists  wheu  Bernard  be- 
gan his  work  was  to  the  effect  that  animals  and  plants  presented  a 
ch.mical  contrast  to  each  other.  The  plant  built  up  such  organic  com- 
pounds as  fats,  carbohydrates  and  proteins  out  of  inorganic  elements ; 
the  ai'imal  feeding  on  the  plant  received  these  organic  compounds  into 
its  bodv  resolving  them  into  inorganic  substances,  at  the  same  time 

; ii...i  -.■..^.-.]:-.i-..-.-r:  f.~.r  fV-.t^  ne.^.-^a  nf  lifr'     \*'hi!f  M'.H  anim?.!  modified 

vegetabfe  proteins,  carbohydrates  and  fats  so  as  to  give  them  an  ani- 
m&l  character,  it  never  made  anything  new.    It  was  maintained  that 


3S 


I'HFINDER  0'='  PHYSIOLOGY 


the  animal  body  never  manufactured  any  of  these  three  compounds, 
tliat  all  or  any  of  them  present  in  the  animal  body  had  been  taken  into 
it  with  its  food. 

Such  was  the  current  belief  among  physiologists  of  France  at 
the  beginning  of  the  fourth  decade  of  last  century.  The  first  heres^ 
was  uttered  by  Liebig  who  proved  that  the  fat  accumulated  in  the 
bodies  of  fattened  geese  exceeded  greatly  the  quar+ity  of  fat  in  the 
intake  of  food,  and  furthermore  that  when  a  cow  was  fattened,  the 
excreta  during  the  fattening  period  contained  as  much  tat  as  the  food 
taken.  At  this  time  Bernard  undertook  his  re.searches  on  the  physi- 
ology of  sugar.  His  first  discovery  was  that  cane  sugar  acted  upon 
by  the  gastric  juice  was  changed  into  dextrose  (glucose).  It  was  his 
intention  to  study  the  three  great  classes  of  foods,  but  he  found  it  nec- 
essary to  confine  his  attention  to  the  carbohydrates  owing  to  the  fas- 
cinating problems  suggested  by  diabetes.  Ke  set  about  to  discover  the 
cause  of  the  excess  of  sugar  in  diabetes  with  the  hope  of  finding  a 
remedy  for  the  disease. 

Having  previously  satisfied  himself  that  no  dextrose  was  present 
in  the  alimentary  canal,  or  in  the  portal  blood,  Bernard  fed  a  dog  on 
meat  only;  killing  the  animal  at  the  height  of  digestion  he  found  to 
his  great  astonishment  the  blood  loaded  with  dextrose. 

"Why!"  said  he,  "if  I  have  made  no  mistakes  I  have  in  this  ex- 
periment come  upon  the  production  of  sugar ;  the  liver  produces  sugar. 
If  the  result  I  have  got  is  confirmed  on  repetition  of  the  experiment, 
the  liver  is  the  sugar-producing  tissue.  It  manufactures  sugar  out 
of  something  that  is  not  sugar,  and  within  it  lies  the  secret  of  dia- 
betes. This  is  a  big  thing  of  which  I  have  got  hold.  I  must  make 
sure  that  I  have  made  no  mistake  in  the  experiment,  and  then  push 
forward  as  far  as  possible  the  lead  thus  given  me." 

Bernard's  results  were  confirmed  by  numerous  experiments.  He 
determined  that  the  sugar  in  question  was  dextrose,  responding  to  all 
the  test.^  for  dextrose.  He  also  discovered  that  while  this  hepatic 
sugar  did  not  come  direct  from  the  food,  it  was  influenced  in  regard 
to  its  quantity  by  the  nature  of  the  food.  Starling,  however,  main- 
tains that  in  some  animals,  the  carnivora,  the  liver  can  continue  to 
supply  sugar  to  the  blood  on  a  diet  which  includes  only  proteins  and 
fats.  Von  Noorden  explains  the  fact  that  proteins  yield  sugar,  by 
the  presence  of  a  carbohydrate  group  in  the  protein  molecule,  which  is 
.=plit  ott  during  pepsin-hydrochloric  acid  digestion. 

Bernard  eventually  came  to  the  conclusion  that  sugar  was  not 
formed  i.nmediately  from  the  elements  whatever  they  might  be  which 
the  blood  brought  to  the  liver,  but  from  some  sub.sta.ice  existing  in 
the  liver  tissue  which  was  capable  of  being  converted  into  sugar.  In 
1857  he  announced  to  the  scientific  world  the  discovery  of  glycogen. 
Though  he  made  knonn  each  step  in  his  discoveries  which  extended 
over  a  number  of  years,  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  telling  the  whole 
story  in  his  own  writings,  never  having  experienced  thf  humiliation 
which  is  sometimes  the  lot  of  pioneers,  in  seeing  their  leading  con- 
ceptions worked  out  by  other  minds.  To  quote  his  biographer.  Sir 
.Michael  Foster,  "Bernard  in  the  matter  of  glycogen  not  only  laid  the 
first  stone  but  left  a  hou.se  .so  nearly  finished  that  other  men  have  been 
able  to  add  but  little." 


VASOMOTOR   NERVES 


39 


"No  less  pregnant  of  future  discoveries,"  says  this  biograpl^er, 
"was  the  idea  suggested  by  this  newly  found-out  action  of  the  hepatic 
tissue,  the  idea  happily  formulated  by  Bernard  as  'internal  secretion.' 
No  part  of  physiology  is  at  the  present  day  being  more  fruitfully 
studied  than  that  which  deals  with  the  changes  the  blood  undergoes 
as  it  sweeps  through  the  several  tissues."  The  study  of  these  in- 
ternal secretions  constitutes  a  path  of  inquiry  which  has  within  re- 
cent years  been  pursued  with  conspicuous  success. 

To  Bernard  we  owe  the  discovery  of  the  remarkable  fact  that 
temporary  diabetes  may  be  caused  by  puncture  of  the  fourth  ven- 
tricle. This  glycosuria  was  formerly  attributed  to  dJrect  stimula- 
tion of  the  liver  through  its  nervous  connections.  It  has  been  found, 
however,  that  if  the  left  adrenal  is  cut  off  from  the  left  sympathetic 
nerve,  no  sugar  appears  in  the  urine  after  the  medulla  has  been  punc- 
tured, and  it  is  now  believed  that  the  stimulus  is  transmitted  by  the 
left  sympathetic  nerve  to  the  left  adrenal,  whence  it  is  passed  to  the 
right  adrenal  by  the  connecting  nerves.  As  a  consequence  of  the 
medullary  puncture  the  adrenals  secrete  more  actively  and  the  in- 
creased flow  of  the  adrenal  secretion  in  its  turn  brings  about  an 
excessive  output  of  sugar  by  the  liver.*  A  number  of  toxic  influences 
possibly  act  in  the  same  way,  the  glycosuria  to  which  they  give  rise 
being  partly  the  result  of  the  action  they  exert  on  the  diabetic  center 
in  the  medulla,  and  partly  an  effect  of  their  stimulating  action  on  the 
sympathetic  nerves,  or  on  the  adrenals  directly,  thus,  in  any  case, 
causing  hyperfunction  of  the  chromaffin  system,  with  consequent 
overproduction  of  sugar  by  the  liver. 

Discovery  of  Vaso-Motor  Nerves — Next  in  importance  to  the  dis- 
covery of  glycogen  was  Bernard's  discovery  of  the  vaso-motor 
nerves.  "To  Claude  Bernard,"  says  Sir  Michael  Foster,  "we  owe  the 
foundations  of  the  vaso-motor  system.  He  made  known  to  us  the  ex- 
istence of  vaso-motor  nerves  and  he  also  made  known  to  us  that  vaso- 
motor nerves  are  of  two  kinds,  vaso-constrictor  and  vaso-dilator — the 
two  fundamental  facts  of  vaso-motor  physiology."  The  importance 
of  this  discovery  can  hardly  be  over-estimated  when  we  consider  that 
there  is  scarcely  a  physiological  problem  of  any  magnitude  which  does 
not  sooner  or  later  involve  vaso-motor  questions.  The  vaso-motor 
nerves  presiding  as  they  do  over  the  contraction  and  dilation  of  the 
walls  of  the  blood  vessels,  assume  an  important  role  in  such  functions 
as  gastric  digestion,  blood  pressure,  heat  processes,  blushing  and 
various  other  congestions,  or  on  the  other  hand,  the  significant  blanch- 
ing of  an  organ  as  in  sudden  fright. 

Among  Bernard's  minor  investigations  which  might  be  mentioned 
is  that,  into  the  physiological  action  of  curare,  a  black  resenoid  ex- 
tract prepared  by  the  South  American  Indians  from  the  bark  of  strych- 
nos  toxifera  and  used  to  poison  arrows.  Owing  to  its  poor  diffusi- 
bility  through  animal  membranes  curare  ijS  harmless  taken  into  the 
alimentary  canal,  though  the  minutest  quantity  introduced  into  a 
wound  is  fatal.,  Since  Bernard's  time  curare  has  become  an  instru- 
ment in  the  hands  of  the  physiologist  to  enable  him  to  abolish  tempo- 
rarily the  movements  of  the  skeletal  muscles,  enabling  him  to  carry 

The  precise  action  of  arbonmonoxide  gas  in  asphyxia  no  one 
understood  until  Bernard  investigated  the  matter.    His  experiments 

•Futchcr  Journal   A.   M.   A.   Uoceml'tr  21.   ial2. 


40 


PATHFINDERS  OF  PHYSIOLOGY 


led  him  to  conclude  that  C  0  was  rapidly  poisonous  to  animals  owing 
to  the  fact  that  it  instantly  displaced  the  oxygen  of  the  red  corpuscle 
and  could  not  itself  be  subsequently  displaced  by  oxygen.  The  animal 
died  because  the  red  corpuscles  were,  so  to  speak,  paralyzed  and  cir- 
culated as  inert  bodies  devoid  of  the  power  of  sustaining  life. 

A  Friend  of  Pasteur — It  is  interesting  to  note  that  at  a  time 
when  physiological  opinion  favored  spontaneous  generation,  vitalism 
and  such  theories,  the  independent  mind  of  Claude  Bernard  foresaw 
what  subsequent  decades  of  physiological  research  have  found  to  ap- 
proximate the  truth  on  such  subjects.  He  was  a  firm  friend  of  Pas- 
teur, whom  he  ably  seconded  in  his  efforts  to  disprove  spontaneous 
generation. 

A  man  is  great  in  proportion  to  the  obstacles  he  is  able  to  sur- 
mount. The  subject  of  this  paper  illustrates  the  truth  that  one  who 
possesses  in  a  high  degree  the  qualities  of  genius  will  succeed  in  spite 
of  his  surroundings.  His  early  education,  neither  adequate  nor  con- 
ducive of  the  best,  together  with  the  keen  struggle  for  a  livelihood, 
and  in  his  early  career,  the  apathy  of  an  unappreciative  age  and  labor- 
atories with  meagre  equipment,  were  obstacle"  which  bring  into  relief 
the  rare  qualities  that  he  possessed.  Contra.-  such  a  condition  with 
the  magnificent  equipment  and  endowment  of  modern  scientific  rtv 
search  and  the  facilities  for  training  as  they  exist  today ! 

Bernard's  life  was  far  from  being  strewn  with  rosea.  He  was  mar- 
ried to  a  wife  who  was  non-appreciative  of  his  genius.  She  saw  noth- 
ing in  what  to  her  was  empty  honor,  the  homage  of  the  scientific 
world,  when  the  means  which  make  foi  affluence  were  not  forthcom- 
ing. His  two  daughters  became  estranged  from  him  and  it  is  said 
that  on3  of  them  who  was  still  living  within  the  last  ten  years,  joined 
that  silly  sentimental  class  of  antivivisectionists  and  endowed  hos- 
pitals for  dogs  and  cats  to  atone  for  the  crimes  of  vivisection  which 
her  father  had  committed.  Not  only  lacked  he  the  sympathy  which 
"in  true  marriage  lies,"  but  he  began  his  work  at  a  time  when  the 
physiologist  had  need  of  a  "real  passion  for  his  science  and  in  order  to 
ward  off  fatal  discouragement  had  to  possess  his  soul  of  high  courage 
and  great  patience.  So  soon  as  the  experimental  physiologist  was  dis- 
covered he  was  denounced ;  he  was  given  over  to  the  reproaches  of  his 
neighborhood  and  subjected  to  the  annoyance  of  the  police ;"  Bernard 
suffered  all  this. 

But  conscientious  work  well  performed  is  not  wichout  its  rewards 
and  perhaps  the  greatest  is  the  satisfaction  of  "something  attempted, 
something  done."  He  was  a  greater  man  than  Majendie,  whose  re- 
searches were  made  more  or  less  at  random  and  who  had  described 
himself  as  a  "rag  picker  by  the  dust  heap  of  science."  Bernard  always 
made  his  experiments  with  a  definiteness  of  purpose.  His  contribu- 
tions to  physiology  have  btn  n  greater  in  number  and  importance  than 
those  of  any  other  investigator.  Later  in  life  he  enlisted  the  friend- 
ship of  Emperor  Napoleon  HI.,  which  resulted  in  two  well  equipped 
laboratories  which  greatly  facilitated  his  work.  His  academic  oppor- 
tunities included  profossorsh.  s  m  the  College  ot  Jhrance  as  well  as  a 
chair  at  the  Sorbonne.  In  18()8,  he  was  admitted  to  the  Academy  of 
France  and  made  one  of  the  "Immortals." 


SKILL  AS  EXPERIMENTER 


41 


The  Quest  for  Truth — As  already  mentioned,  Bernard  possessed 
a  faculty  that  contributed  in  no  small  degree  to  his  succe-s  as  phy- 
siologist. Huxley  has  described  an  educated  man  as  one  wiiose  hand 
is  the  ready  servant  of  his  will.  Often,  too,  great  stress  is  laid  upon 
the  purely  intellectual  qualities  and  too  little  upon  that  manual  dex- 
terity which  is  so  essential  to  successful  work  in  the  laboratory. 
In  fact  medicine  itself  is  an  art  as  well  as  an  ensemble  of  sciences, 
and  the  art  is  as  important  as  the  science.  As  much  depends  upon 
the  skillful  use  of  the  senses,  and  in  surgery,  skill  in  manipulation, 
as  upon  the  well  trained  mind.  The  extreme  nicety  with  which  Ber- 
nard performed  his  dissections  excited  the  astonishment  as  well  as 
the  admiration  of  his  associates.  It  was  this  faculty  which  first  won 
him  the  favor  of  Majendie.  A  clumsy  experiment  is  apt  to  be  a  poor 
experiment  barren  of  results,  and  a  patient's  chances  of  life  may  be 
jeopardized  by  an  operation  poorly  performed. 

Bernard  was  active  until  the  end.  On  what  proved  to  be  his  death- 
bed he  worked  at  the  revision  of  proofs  of  a  volume  of  lectures  on 
operative  physiology.  He  died  on  the  tenth  of  February,  1878,  and 
was  laid  in  the  grave  with  all  the  pomp  and  ceremony  of  a  state  fu- 
neral. Gambetta  eulogized  him  as  one  who  had  never  allowed  himself 
to  be  led  away  either  by  party  spirit  or  by  the  dogmas  of  a  school,  or 
by  private  feelings.  Bernard's  work  is  a  model  of  patient  persevering 
investigation,  experiment  and  research,  an  unprejudiced  and  disinter- 
ested quest  for  truth.  He  lived  up  to  and  fulfilled  the  ideals  with 
which  he  began  his  career,  ideals  aptly  expressed :  "Truth  like  beauty 
is  when  unadorned,  adorned  the  most."  Such  ideals  have  inspired  men 
of  light  and  leading  of  all  time;  they  inspire  medicine  today,  ideals 
old  yet  always  new,  and  we  may  say  with  Kipling: 

"Tho  men  bulk  big  on  tbe  old  trail,  our  own  trail,  the  out  trail, 
They're  God's  own  guides  on  the  Long  Trail,  the  trail  that  s  always  new. ' 


C'lIAPTKR   V. 


RESPIRATION 

ArJX  n«l'R  Vr'"';'^'?  ,?u'"  ^l!'  J''i>--^i«I«P.v  of  respiration; 
crlT  \  i  tV^-^  contended  that  the  function  of  breathing  was  to 
coo!  he  blood.  It  was  noticed  that  animals  over-heated  from  exertion 
breathed  more  rapidly,  hence  the  inference.     Galen    (l:n-'>0-}  A    in 

d  mn"'uie^'nnl,l^t!''*/^f  Vu  T^''"^  '"''-'^  ^^  ^^^'"'^^e  and  to  cool 
che.^  !'',""!*''•  ^^'^^  °f  [^"^  ^^''^'•t:  that  the  peculiar  action  of  the 
nil  red  Vol  tf"  "y'''P'!:^*'°\"^troduced  into  the  blood  the  air  re- 
quiud  tor  the  regeneration  of  vita    spirits  in  the  left  side  of  fhP 

oi'rthetdrry'%"'^"-'^''  '■°"^>^  'A  ^-^^  df^tributed'fhrtgh! 
'f''f1  ■^-  *^'^'^"  ,?''^°  recognized  the  necessity  of  ridding  the  body 
of  fulginous  vapors;  produced  by  the  innate  fire  in  the  hfart  which 
?eitu?;-TeZ.'  d^H^  by  e.xpiration.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  fifteen  S 
dLnrov;ri  thTf«i/\^  P^-'"*f'  "I'-^thematicvin  and  naturalist, 

He  found  t^/^"^'^-''  ^^""^  ^'^  ^'?P'y  <=o»led  the  blood  in  respiration 
He  found  that  air  was  consumed  by  fire  and  that  animals  could  nnt 

first  "cor?  inTe 'H"r"%°'  '^"PP"^'^'"^'  combustior  ThTs"  s  ?h 
mst  lecord  in  the  history  of  science  which  pointed  to  the  fact  th  ,t 
the  tunction  of  air  in  respiration  depended  upon  itfchemcal  com- 
position and  not  upon  its  physical  properties.  cnemicai  com- 

It  is- evident  that  no  real  advance  could  be  made  in  the  nhvsinlocrv 

4  Sl7e""L  ■^',\"^:?''^^r  fi^'  ^'^^'^  hadti^dtfott'rS 
unti  tv,^rvf;i  clepartrnent  of  the  science  of  physiology  lagged 
unt  1  the  chemist  appeared  on  the  .scene.     Harvev  had  panted  out 

hat  as  the  blood  went  to  the  lungs  from  the  right  side  of  he  hea?t 
thence  to  the  left  auricle  a  marked  change  took  place  the  blood  as 
suming  a  bright  arterial  hue.  The  cause  which  resulted  in  this 
peculiar  change,  Harvey  was  unable  to  d;  .ern.  nor  d  d  it  become 
known  until  a  much  later  day.  when  scientists  became  familiar  wUh 
the  characteristics  and  constituents  of  atmo.spheric  air. 

Mechanics     of     Respiration.       The     first     real     knowledge     on 
the     mechanics     of     respiration     we     owe     to     Borelli.       Apnhing 
the     knowledge     of     mu.scular     contraction     on     the     one     hand 
and   atmospheric   pressure   on    the   other,    he   taught    that    insni?a 
tion  consisted  of  the  entrance  of  air  into  the  chest  by  virtue  of  at 

rr't'lir'nfP-r'''''n  ^'^^^  ^'^^^'f-^  being  enlarged  by  the  muscular  con- 
tiaction  ot  Its  v. a  Is;  expiration  consisted  mainlv  in  a  cessation  of 
muscular  contracUon.  Borelli  broke  with  the  ancient  view  IhS  the 
function  of  breathing  was  the  cooling  of  the  excessive  heat  of  the 
hoiirt  or  the  ventilation  of  the  vital  flame.  "So  great  a  machinery 
and  vessels  and  organs  of  the  lungs,"  he  continues,  "must  have  been 
instituted  for  some  grand  purpo.se;  and  that  we  will  trv  to  expound 
il  po.ssible.  though  we  siiall  st.inmer  as  we  go  alon^."  ^Airain  hp  in! 
"'"V'..  ^-"■.^^'<'^'"  >"  '^y  breathing  is  the  chief  cause  of  the  life  of  ani- 
mal.s.  It  IS  more  important  than  the  heart  and  the  circulation  of  the 
blood. 


ROBERT  nOYLB 


4S 


The  Work  of  IJoyle.  Now  we  turn  to  the  English 
school.  Robert  Doyle  (1027  lODl),  perhaps  the  most  re- 
nowned physicist  of  his  time,  by  means  of  the  air  pump 
made  many  researches  on  the  "spring"  of  air.  He  showed, 
among  other  things  that  a  flame  wa.s  extinguished  in  a  partial 
vacuum  and  that  in  a  more  complete  vacuum  not  only  the  flame  but 
the  lives  of  small  animals  such  as  the  mouse  ceased  very  quickly. 
Here  we  see  that  the  phenomena  connected  with  the  burning  candle 
closel.y  re.scmbled  the  phenomena  of  life;  furthermore  that  air  what- 
ever it  might  be.  and  not  the  mechanical  movements  of  the  chest 
wall  was  necessary  for  the  continuance  of  life.  Boyle  lived  at  Ox- 
ford for  many  years  and  while  there  made  important  improvements 
in  the  air  pump  and  in  a  long  series  of  experiments  with  it  made  vari- 
ous discoveries  in  the  properties  of  air  and  the  propagation  of  sound 
He  was  at  the  same  time  an  ardent  student  of  theology.  He  was  ad- 
vised to  enter  the  church,  but  declined,  feeling  that  his  writings  on 
religious  topics  would  have  greater  weight  coming  from  a  layman 
than  from  a  paid  clergyman.  As  a  man  of  science  he  was  the  first 
to  carry  out  the  principles  of  Bacon's  Novum  Organum. 

The  next  step  was  taken  by  Robert  Hooke,  who  was  for  some 
time  assistant  to  Boyle.  Hooke  was  born  on  the  Isle  of  Wight,  in  1635. 
He  was  destined  for  the  church,  but  ill-health  diverted  his  career  into 
other  channels,  which  gave  scope  for  his  precocious  mechanical 
genius.  His  personal  appearance  is  described  as  very  unattractive; 
his  hair  being  in  dishevelled  locks  over  his  haggared  countenance.  He 
possessed  an  irritable  temper  and  was  much  given  to  spending  his 
time  in  solitude. 

To  him  Boyle  was  endebted  for  valuable  work  in  connection  with 
the  perfecting  of  his  air  pump.  He  was  one  of  the  earliest  and  most 
zealous  users  of  the  micro.scope ;  a  volume  entitled  Micrographia.  con- 
tains an  account  of  his  many  "Ob.servations  Made  on  Minute  Bodies 
of  varied  kinds  by  magnifying  glasses."  Hooke's  microscopic  studies 
on  cork  lead  to  the  adoption  of  the  term  "cell"  as  the  histologic  unit 
He  was  curator  of  the  Royal  society,  at  a  meeting  of  which  he  demon 
strated  before  the  Fellows  an  experiment  on  artificial  respiration, 
which  had  been  made  before  and  many  times  since.  The  uniqueness 
of  the  experiment  consisted  in  the  important  conclusions  which  Hooke 
made.  The  experiment  consisted  in  opening  the  thorax  of  a  dog  and 
substituting  the  movements  of  the  chest  wall  bv  respiratory  move- 
ments accomplished  by  means  of  hand  bellows,  the  nozzel  inserted  in 
the  trachea.  This  proved  th  t  the  mechanical  movements  of  the 
chest  wall  were  only  of  a  secondary  importance  and  that  the  whole 
business  of  respiration  was  carried  on  in  the  lungs.  This  fact  was  fur- 
ther proven  by  inflating  the  lungs  to  their  utmost  capacitv  and  keep- 
ing them  distended  by  a  powerful  blast  allowing  the  air  lo'escape  con- 
tinually through  minute  holes  pricked  in  the  lungs.  This  showed  that 
life  could  be  maintained  even  in  the  absence  of  the  artificial  move- 
?I!!"u  „!.^„i^!!^  r^  *^^  JP?''*^"^^-^'™^  °^  th^  '""fi^s  ^^'ere  so  subjected  ^o  a 
i"""''  "■■^.^Vl,"*  j'\'  i'''^'i"i:icre  me  secret  oi  liie  change  from  venous 
to  arterial  blood  depended  upon  the  exposure  of  the  blood  to  fresh 
air  which  was  in  the  course  of  life  accomplished  by  the  bellows-like 
action  of  the  chest  wall  and  diaphragm. 


44 


I'ATHFINDERS   OF   iniYSIOLOGY 


.p., /''•'"«*  ,'"/o'o^«f  ^«no"«  t»  Arterial  Blood— Richard  Lower, 
\  :  '^•'uCluded  that  the  change  in  color,  venou.s  to  arterial,  blood  was 
due  to  the  exposure  of  the  blood  to  the  air  in  the  lungs;  he  drew  the 
further  conclusion  that  the  change  in  color  was  dje  not  to  the  ex- 
posure alone,  but  to  the  fact  that  the  blood  took  up  some  of  the  air; 
that  is,  according  to  Lower,  arterial  blood  differed  from  venous  in 
that  it  contains  air.  The  blood  gave  up  its  "fresh  air"  in  the  course 
of  the  circulation,  hence  the  necessity  of  a  constant  supply  of  fresh 
air  for  the  maintenance  of  life.  "Were  it  not  for  this,  we  should 
breathe  as  well  in  the  most  filthy  prison  as  among  the  most  delightful 
pastures  •  *  *  "h,  fact,"  he  continues,  "where  a  fire  burns 
readily  there  we  can  easily  breathe."  Note  that  there  was  no  men- 
tion that  only  a  part  of  the  air  was  taken  up  by  the  blood.  The  com- 
mon knowledge  of  the  time  was  that  air  was  a  simple  substance,  not 
a  mixture  of  several  elements  as  we  know  it  today. 

Mayow  and  His  Researches.— The  next  contribution  to  the  sub- 
ject of  respiration  was  that  of  John  Mayow,  bom  in  London  in  1643. 
Mayow  was  a  lawyer  by  profession  and  science  was  his  avocation. 
iMany  valued  contributions   to  medical  science  were   made   by  men 
whose  lives  were  spent  in  other  callings.     Priestly  who  discovered 
oxygen  was  ji   Lnitarian   minister;   Schleiden,  whose  name   is  con- 
nected \yith  the  cell  theory,  was  a  lawyer;  Schwann  was  a  botanist; 
Metchnikoff  is  a  biologist.     Thus  many  of  the  important  discoveries 
germain  to  medicine  were  made  by  men  whose  work  was  inspired  bv 
the  fascination  o    the  subject  in  hand-the  avocation  of  their  leisure 
moments.     Of  Mayow  it  was  said   he  took  his  degree  in  law  and 
became  noted  lor  his  practice  therein."     Mayow's  published  works 
consisted  of  four  tracts— de  .sal  nitro  et  spiritu  nitro  aero;   de  respi- 
ratione;  de  respiratione  feotus  in  utero  et  ovo;  de  motu  musculari  et 
spintibus  animahbus.     He   showed  that  it  was  not   the  whole  air 
which  was  necessary  for  respiration,  but  onlv  a  portion,  and  that  par- 
ticular constituent  of  the  air  which  has  since  become  known  as  oxy- 
gen    In  the  language  of  the  chemists  of  his  time,  for  he  was  essen- 
tially a  chemist,  Mayow  endeavors  to  prove  "that  this  air  which  sur- 
rounds us,  and  which,  since  by  its  tenuity  it  escapes  the  sharpness  of 
our  eyes,  seems  to  those  who  think  about  it  to  be  an  empty  space 
i-s  impregnated  with  a  certain  universal  salt,  of  a  nitro-saline  nature' 
that  IS  to  .say,  with  a  vital,  fiery,  and  in  the  highest  degree  fermen- 
tative .spirit.       The  word  ".salt"  was  used  by  the  seventeenth  centurv 
chemist  to  designate  any  substance  not  distinctly  metallic  or  liquid. 
Mayow  sums  up  the  conditions  necessarv  for  combustion-  "con- 
cerning fire  It  must  be  noted  that  for  the  ignition  of  this  it  is  neces- 
.sary  that  igneo  aereal  (evidently  oxygen)  particles  should  either  pre- 
exist in  the  thmg  to  be  burnt  or  should  be  supplied  from  the  air 
(.unpowiler  IS  very  easily  burnt  by  itself  by  reason  of  the  igneo-aereai 
particles  existing  in  it.    Vegetables  are  burnt  partlv  bv  meins  of  the 
igneo-aereal   particles   existing   in    them,    partlv    bv  'help   of    .nose 
brought  to  them  from  the  air."     This  early  chemist  recognized  the 
fact  that  in  combustion  we  have  a  chemical  combination  with  the 
substance  burnt,  and  as  a  result  an  ;ictii;.l  inn-^.,...  ;„  „.„:„i,*      t, 
experiments  with  antimony,  which  he  burns  bv  focusing  the  "sun's 
rays  by  mean.s  of  a  lens;  by  weighing  the  substance  he  finds  an  in 
crease  in  weight  which  he  attributes  the  "insertion  into  it  of  igneo- 


MAYOW 


acreal  particles  during  the  calcination.  As  we  shall  see  more  than  a 
century  later  Lavoisier  arrives  at  the  same  conclusion.  But  Mayow 
did  not  stop  here.  He  proceeded  to  point  out  the  identity  of  burning 
and  breathing: 

■If  a  BiiiiUl  animal  and  a  liKhted  candle  be  shut  up  in  the  same  vessel,  the 
entrance  into  which,  of  air  from  without  is  prevented,  you  will  see  in  a  short 
time,  the  candle  go  out;  nor  will  the  animal  long  survive  its  funeral  torch. 
Indeed,  1  have  found  by  observation  that  an  animal  shut  up  in  a  flask  together 
with  a  candle  will  continue  to  breathe  for  not  much  more  than  half  the  time 
than  It  otherwise  would,  that  is  without  the  candle.  «  »  •  The  reason  why  the 
animal  can  live  some  time  after  the  candle  Ims  .;one  out  seems  to  be  as  follows; 
The  flame  of  the  candle  needs  for  its  maintenance  a  continuoua  and  at  the  same 
time  a  sufficiently  full  and  rapid  stream  of  nitro-aereal  particles.  Whence  it 
comes  about  that  if  the  succession  of  nltro-aereai  particles  be  iiitrrrupted,  cvt  n 
for  a  moment,  or  If  these  are  not  supplied  in  adequate  quantity,  the  flame  pres- 
ently sinks  and  goes  out.  Hence,  so  soon  as  the  igneo-aereal  particles  bi'gin  to 
reach  the  flame  scantily  and  slowly,  it  is  soon  extinguished.  For  animals,  on 
the  other  hand,  a  lesser  store  of  the  aereal  food  is  sufllcient,  and  one  supplied  at 
Intervals,  so  that  the  animal  can  be  sustained  by  aereal  particles  remaining  after 
the  candle  has  gone  out.  Hence  it  may  be  remarked  that  the  movements  of  ilie 
collapsed  lungs  not  a  little  help  towards  the  sucking  of  the  aereal  particles 
which  may  remain  in  the  said  flask,  and  towards  transferring  them  into  the 
blood  of  the  breathing  animal.  Whence  it  comes  about  that  the  animal  does  not 
perish  until  just  before  the  aereal  particles  are  wholly  exhausted.  *  ♦  •  We  may 
infer  that  animals  and  fire  deprive  the  air  of  particles  of  the  same  kind." 

Mayow's  account  of  the  mechanics  of  respiration  would  need  lit- 
tle or  no  revision  for  a  modem  text  book  on  physiology.  He  showed 
that  the  air  entered  the  lungs  during  respiration  solely  by  atmospheric 
pressure.  He  makes  use  of  the  experiment  whereby  a  collapsed 
bladder  is  placed  into  a  bell-jar,  the  bladder  expanding  as  the  air  in 
the  Jar  is  exhausted  by  means  of  an  air  pump.  He  taught  that  in  in- 
spiration the  chest  is  enlarged  by  the  descent  and  contraction  of  the 
diaphragm  and  by  the  raising  of  the  ribs.  Mayow  further  tackles 
the  raison  d'etre  of  breathing  in  which  he  shows  that  something 
necessary  to  sustain  life  passes  from  the  air  into  the  blou.l.  "We 
have  no  right,"  said  he,  "to  deny  the  entrance  of  air  into  the  blood 
because  on  account  of  the  bluntness  of  our  .senses  we  cannot  actually 
see  the  vessels  by  which  it  makes  its  entrance." 

These  extracts  go  to  show  how  mature  the  views  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  school  of  English  physiologists,  Boyle,  Hooke,  Lower 
and  Mayow  in  particular,  were.  Mayow  by  his  nitro-aereal  or  igneo- 
aereal  substance  evidently  meant  oxygen.  Their  work  was,  however, 
allowed  to  slumber,  until  the  scientific  path  was  retraveled  by  their 
successors  nearly  a  century  later. 

Summary  I'rior  to  the  Beginning  of  the  Eighteenth  Century.— 
Van  Helmont  (1G48)  had  discovered  some  of  the  properties  of  car- 
bondioxide.  He  showed  that  i  gas  was  formed  from  fermentation 
or  the  combustion  of  carbon  and  from  the  action  of  vinegar  on  cer- 
tain carbonates,  and  that  this  gas  was  incapable  of  supporting  com- 
&u.-5iiuii.  iju,\ ie  (iu(U^,  a.■^  ue  iiave  seen,  proved  tiiac  air  was  neces- 
sary to  the  life  of  all  animals,  even  those  which  lived  under  water. 
Bernoulli,  at  a  later  date,  showed  that  the  existence  of  aquatic  ani- 
male  depended  upon  air  held  in  solution  in  water.     Hooke  exposed 


1« 


I'ATIIFINDKRS  OF   I'll YSIOLOCY 


tho  lun^rs  of  a  livinjf  animal  and  maintained  the  vital  processes  bv 

pe  hM  upon  a  eontinuai  cha.iKo  of  air  ...  the  lu.igs.  Fracassat  dr' w 
.''-■';.'>.  to  the  (act  that  the  red  color  of  11,.  upper  surface  fa  d.U 
>  as  due  to  its  exposure  to  air.     Mayow   (Kwl)   advance.i   the  vk'w 

Sich"".r'H'"r'  "  f""""'"'*^'  '="^''''^'^"  "'■  •'^"PP'"ti"*r  combustion,  and 
^h  ch.  absorbed  m  respiration,  ehaUKcd  venous  into  arteral  blood 
•md  uas  the  eaus.-  ot  heat  developed  in  animal  bodies 

turv^tSitSor^"?^"'-''  '^•»">«'--Amon»,   the  early  eighteenth  cen- 
u  \   tuntiibu  oKs  to  our  kn(.wk..iKe     of     respiration     was     Stephen 
lies   born  l(,u    who,  oy  the  way,  was  not  connected  with  the  med- 
Ln    r'\"-T'""V   "'-'.'•^'c^'ived  his  AI.  A.  degree  at  Cambridge  in  U03 

'  caS'thieh  h"'V"7  '".^^'V-,  l^!-'  ^-'^'^  ^  clergyman  by  proPess  on 
.1  calling  which  he  followed  until  his  death  in  17G1.     He  is  chieflv 
known  as    he  inventor  of  a  "ventilator,"  by  means  of  which  frtih  air 
wa«  mtroduced  into  jails,  mines,  hospitals,  an,l  shp.V  holds      Four 
.ears  after  the  mtroduction  of  Hales'  inven  ion  mtoThe  Savoy  prison 
only  four  prisoners  died,  whereas  the  mortality  before  its    ntroduc 
tion  had  been  as  high  as  one  hundred  a  year.    Devoted  as  was  H  lU  s 
o  the  church   he  was  even  more  devoted  to  scienct^  He  wa^the  first 
to  determine  blood  pressure  by  actual  experiment  on  the  livfng  animal 
iNext  in  chronological  .sequence  is  Joseph  Black,  an  eminent  chem 
^^Zf  Bonkaux  in  1728,  where  his  father  was  en?aS  in  t?e 
wine  trade     Both  parents  were  of  Scotch  descent.    In  174tf  Black  en 

r    ciSen^^H^f '■  "'  '""^^«?'  '''^'''  ^^'  '^^udied  chemist^   under 
urt/in  i?^.i      i'  however,  graduated  from  the   University  of  Edin- 

i  M?aSd  Ihe  .iliali  .^i'■''1"''H''^!,'^'-'^'■'  ^'  P''^^-'^^'  ^'^='t  the  causticUy  of 
mlf       th'i,^l^^a'i«  1'^  due  to  the  absence  of  carbonic  acid  present  -n 

term  "xed    ur  ••'^  T?  T  '^'  '''""  carbondioxide  but  instftuted  f^'e 
71?      AL''  1        ^"™'^'^  "''"'^  ^■^'■^  "'■■'^t  used  by  Lavoisier  in 

-48.     L  ack  s  work  was  a  distinct  contribution   to  chemistry      In 
1   o..   he  became  professor  of  anatomy  and  chemistry  at  Gksgow  bu 
shortly  become  professor  of  the  Institutes  of  Medicine^  In    he  me^m- 
tmie  he  practised  his  profession  an.i  found  opportunitv  fo     or?^^nal 

Edh;tf->!°"Hi'",  'J''  ""'  ^^"-^  transferred  tl\  s^miUr  posS  fn 
h-dinbui^h.     His  lectures  were  noted  for  their  clearness  and  wh-it  i, 
perhaps  the  best  testimonial  to  any  lecturer,  his  c  a 'ses  Came  the 
largest  and  best  attended  in  the  universitv.    Though  of  delicarecoi 
st^Uution,  by  constant  care  he  lived  to  the^  fairly  ripe  age  of Teven??: 

Black  had  been  anticipated  in  his  discovery  of  "fixed  air"  bv  Van 
UnlT'l'  "^'T  '•^^^■'''■^■^■^'■^  had  been  made  a  century  earlier  In  other 
words,  he  had  re-discoN  red  the  gas  later  to  be  known  as' CoIr. 
usmg  clear  lime  water,  he  was  able  to  show  th'it  "fiv  H  .i  •-  •  ^ 

•>'r  in  lermentation.  in  expiration  and  thTt  t  as  a 'product  o?  gurn" 
.ng  charcoal.  The  chemical  formula  for  clear  lime  4fer  ifca  (OH)  ' 
at  Am  ''"  r^:'"'''  ^'  •'■^'■^^■^  ^'"■'"  CO^.  becomes  Calcium  Carbon ' 
tLS  Slv.^'^l''^  •"  r'^'P'^''^'^^'  ^'^  '^halk.  and  water   (H?0)      The 

fnt     nffl     '^'""?'  7^'^'""  '■''  °^  ^""^^'^'  ^  reduction  in  the  caus! 
ticity  of  the  original  substance.  taus- 

i  ciuGte  the  fuikminj^  extracts  from  his  treati.se  on  chemistry 
•■I  had  discovered  that  this  particular  kind  of  air,  attracted  by  alkaline  .ub- 
:nances,  is  deadly  to  all  animals  that  breathed  it  by  the  mouth  and  nostrils  t' 


IMUKSTLY 


47 


gtthJ-r,   bur   ir  111..   ii.iHlillH  wtT."  kept  Klnit   I   nvuh  IcI   to  believe  Unit  It   mitiht   be 
broatlud  in  »afij|y      I  fouiid  for  example  that  when  Hparrowo  died   In  It  In  ten  or 

eleven   seronds,   they   vsoiild   live   In   11    thr ,r   tour   nunuteH   when    the   noHtrlls 

v\ere  Bhut  by  melted  ault.  And  I  eonvlneed  myself  that  the  chauge  produced  on 
VNholrsome  air  1)y  breathing  It  conHlsted  chiefly,  if  not  wholly,  In  tho  conversion 
of  imii  of  it  into  llxed  air.  For  1  found,  that  by  blowlnx  through  a  pipe  inf.) 
lime  water,  llie  lime  \v,ik  precipitated,  and  the  alkali  wag  rendered  mild.  •  •  • 
In  the  same  year  I  found  that  llxed  air  is  the  chief  pan  of  the  olaHt!.<  matter. 
wln(h  Is  formeil  In  ll(|iild»  in  the  vinous  fermentation.  Van  llelmont  has  Indeed 
•aid  this,  l.ut  it  was  at  random  that  he  said  it  was  the  same  with  the  (iroito  del 
Cane  In  Italy  (but  he  supposed  the  Identity  because  both  are  deadly),  for  he  liati 
examined  neither  of  them  chemically,  nor  did  he  know  that  It  was  the  air  dlfi- 
enganed  In  the  efferves.ence  of  alkaline  sub.stames  with  a<ids.  I  convinceil 
myself  of  the  fact  by  goliiK  to  a  brew  house  with  t«o  phials,  one  tilled  with  dis 
tilled  water  and  the  other  with  lime  water.  I  emptied  the  llrst  into  a  vat  of 
wort  fermenting  bri.skly,  holding  the  mouth  of  the  phial  close  to  the  surface  ol 
the  wort.  I  then  pouiid  some  of  the  lime  water  into  it,  shut  It  with  my  linger, 
and  shook  if.     The  lime  water  became  turbid  immediately." 

r.lack  goes  on  to  criticise  Van  Helmont'.s  pronouncements  as 
mere  chance  statements.  He,  him.seif,  verified  all  his  conclusions  b.v 
repeated  experiment. 

As  Black  re  discovered  untler  the  term  "fixed  air"  that  which 
\  an  Helmoiit  had  recognized  a  century  before,  so  Ma.vow's  igneo- 
aereal  salt  or  spirit  was  re  discovered  by  Triestly  and  Lavoisier. 

Priestly  and  His  DephloKisticated  Air:  With  the  name  of  Joseph 
Priestly,  perhaps  more  than  any  other,  is  associated  in  the  modern 
mind  the  discovery  of  oxygen,  though  he  did  not  make  u.se  of  th" 
term.    Of  him  Frederick  Harrison  has  .said: 

"If  we  choose  one  man  as  a  type  of  the  intellectual  energy  of  the  eighteenth 
century  we  could  hardly  tliid  a  better  than  Jo.seph  Priestly,  though  his  wa.,  not 
the  greatest  mind  of  the  cintury.  Mis  versatility,  eagerness,  activity  and  hu- 
manity; the  immense  range  of  his  curiosity  in  all  things  physical  and  social;  his 
place  In  science,  in  theology,  in  philosophy  and  in  politics;  his  peculiar  relation 
to  the  Revolution,  and  the  pathetic  story  of  his  unmerited  sufferings,  may  make 
him  the  hero  of  the  eighteenth  century." 

He  was  bom  near  Leeds,  England,  in  1733,  and  died  in  the  United 
States  in  1804.  His  boyhood  was  uneventful.  His  family  was  de- 
scribed as  "simple,  sober,  honest.  God  fearing  folk,  staunch  Calvinists 
...ul  deeply  religious."  The  son  inherited  these  qualities  and  entered 
the  ministry  as  a  Lnitarian  pi  acher.  an  act  which  was  particularly 
oflensive  to  the  orthodo.xy  of  tiie  time.  Benjamin  Franklin,  to  whom 
Priestly  is  endebted  for  the  incentive  for  scientific  study,  refers  to 
him  in  a  letter  as  an  "honest  heretic."  And  continuing  in  Franklin's 
charactersitic  style,  he  says: 

■•I  do  not  call  him  honest  by  wi;,  of  distinction,  for  I  think  all  the  heretics 
1  have  known  have  been  viniious  men.  They  have  the  virtue  ot  fortitude,  or 
they  would  not  venture  to  own  their  heresy;  and  they  cannot  afford  to  be  tiif- 
ficient  in  any  of  the  other  virtues,  as  that  would  give  advantage  to  their  many 
cuci^ics;  ana  tney  ua>e  hul  iiiie  onhouox  sinners,  such  a  number  ot  friends  to 
excuse  or  justify  them.  Do  not,  however,  mistake  me.  It  is  not  to  my  good 
friend's  heresy  that  I  impute  his  honesty.  On  the  contrary  Us  his  honesty  that 
has  brought  upon  him  the  character  ot  heretic." 


i 


41 


PATIII'ISHKliS   OK   PHY.SI0I.OfiY 


Priestly  was  thirty  years  old  when  i'ranklin  wa.s  .sixty.  Priestly 
iii<e  l'"iaMkiin  was  wl'II  in  formed  on  a  vari.'tv  of  .subjects.  Ho  wrote 
learnedly  on  polities,  religion  and  on  .science,  particularly  on  pner- 
niatic  chemistry.  I!o>well  duhhed  him  a  "literary  Jack-ot'  all-trades," 
and  he  was  busy  with  proof  sluets  until  the  day  of  his  death  His 
paniiilikts  (in  politics  and  religion  were  so  much  opposed  by  the  orth 
jdiix  the  (iloKiaiis  (if  his  day  that  they  answered  his  arguments  by 
buininK  his  house  and  dispoilinj,'  his  beloiiKiiiKs,  a  peculiar  wav  that 
the  so  called  orthodo.x  theoluKy  has  had  in  the  past  of  dealing'  wih 
tho.se  bold  intrepid  spirits  who  have  dared  to  stand  for  what  they 
believed  to  be  the  truth.  His  home  surroutidinKs  in  I!irmin>rham 
became  so  unpleasant  that  in  self-defense  he  ;et  sail  for  America, 
here  to  breathe  the  atmosphere  of  civil  and  reli^rious  freedom.  He 
was  offered  the  [.rofessorship  of  chemistry  in  the  I'niversitv  of  Phila- 
delphia, but  the  followinj,'  year  moved  to  Northumberland,  a  town  on 
the  .Sus(iuehanna,  a  hundred  and  thirty  miles  northwest  of  Philadcl- 
I)hia.  He  lived  and  worked  until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1804. 

Priestly  endeavored  t--  changt  back  to  its  original  condition,  air 
that  iiad  been  breathed,  or  which  had  failed  to  support  the  flame  of  a 
candle.  He  eventually  succeeded  l)y  means  of  vegetation.  First  he 
exiH-riD  >nted  b  •  placing  a  sprig  of  mint  into  a  glass  jar  standing  in- 
verted over  a  vessel  of  wate  Parenthetically.  Priestlv  invented  the 
pneumatic  trough,  which  has  been  found  so  convenient  in  experiment- 
ing with  gases.  When  the  sprig  of  mint  had  been  growing  some 
mont.'i-^.  the  air  within  the  vessel  would  not  extinguish  a  flame  nor 
act  deleteriously  to  small  animals,  such  as  the  mouse,  placed  therein 
1  he  growing  plant  -eally  contributed  to  the  flame  or  the  animal  that 
was  placed  in  the  vessel.  Further  experiment  showed  that  a  growing 
plant  placed  in  a  vessel  in  which  a  flame  had  been  extinguished  would 
m  time  r.  n  icr  the  atmosphere  in  the  jar  capable  of  supporting  either 
flame  or  animal  life.  This  lead  him  to  conclude:  "That  plants,  in- 
.stead  of  affecting  the  air  in  the  .same  manner  with  animal  respiration, 
reverse  the  effects  of  breathing  and  tend  to  keep  the  atmosphere 
swef^t  and  wholesome  when  it  is  become  noxious  in  consequence  of 
animals  either  living  and  breathing  or  dying  and  putrifying  in  it." 

Priest ly'.s  researches  might  have  been  more  fruitful  in  re.sults 
had  he  not  been  dominated  by  the  phlogiston  theorv,  a  term  devised 
by  .Stuhl.  Phlogiston,  from  phlogistos,  burnt,  was  a  hvpothetical 
principle  of  fire  regarded  as  a  material  substance.  Every  combustible 
substance  was  a  compound  of  phlogiston  and  the  phenomenon  cf  com- 
bustion was  due  to  a  separaiion  of  the  compound  into  its  component 
elements. 

Priestly  was  able  to  obtain  the  same  gas  bv  heating  mercuric 
oxide,  and  from  red  precipitate.  Rut  he  could  not  get  away  from 
the  phlogiston  theory.  Air  .supported  combustion  because  it  took  up 
phlogiston  given  out  by  the  burning  body.  Common  air  supported 
combustion  in  proportion  as  it  was  free  from  phlogiston.  He  pre- 
pared ox.Vgen  in  1774.  that  is  he  di.scovered  that  the  s-nf.  ho  nron.ired 
was  part  of  the  common  air,  which  supported  life  and  combustion! 
Venous  blood  was  blood  laden  with  phlogiston.  Blood  expos^>d  to  de- 
phlogisted  air  gave  up  its  phlogiston  and  became  bright  arterial  blood. 


LAVOISIER 


4» 


Some  idea  of  the  scope  of  Priestley's  researches  may  be  inferred 
from  the  mere  cataiotfue  of  his  discoveries.  He  is  credited  with  dis- 
covennsr  dephloKisticatod  air  (oxyjjren)  hydrochloric  acid,  sulphur 
dioxide,  nitrosulphuric  acid,  sulphuretted  hydrogen,  and  the  solation 
of  amonia  g&a. 

Lavoisier  and  HLs  Work — Antoine  Laurent  Lavoi  ,ier  was  born 
m  I  aris  in  1712.  trn  years  later  than  the  date  on  which  Priest Iv  first 
saw  the  hjfht  of  day.  As  scientist  his  career  was  practically  uintem- 
poran.'ous  with  that  of  Priestly,  who  made  the  same  momentous 
di.scovery  working  mdependently.  In  1775.  a  year  after  Priestly  i  ad 
prepared  his  dephloKisticated  air  (oxygen).  Lavoisier  published  rs 
paper  On  the  nature  and  principle  which  combines  with  metals  dur- 
ing their  calcination."  In  this  paper  he  showed  that  metals  on  lK-i:,tr 
burnt  did  not  give  up  phlogiston  to  the  air  but  took  something  from 
tne  air;  they  on  becr)ming  metallic  oxides,  increased  in  weight  La- 
voKsier  dealt  the  death  blow  to  the  phlogiston  theory  and  was  in  a 
sen.se  t he  real  discover  of  oxygen  He  proved  that  the"  principle  which 
combined  with  metais  when  -  'cined  was  the  principle  of  acidity  He 
say.s:  '1  shall  therefore  designate  dephlogisticated  air,  air  eminently 
respirable,  when  in  a  state  of  combination  or  fixedness  by  the  name  of 
acidif.\-ing  principle,  or.  if  one  prefers  the  .same  meaning  in  a  Greek 
dress,  by  that  of  'oxygme'  principle."  Lavoisier  discovered  oxygen 
and  gave  it  the  name  by  which  it  will  henceforth  be  known  He  made 
further  experiments  in  connection  with  respiration  which  he  con- 
cluded to  be  a  combustion,  slow  it  is  true,  but  otherwise  perfectly 
similar  to  the  combus,tion  of  charcoal."  He  eventually  saw.  however 
of  carb(!Jl*^d?o.xSl  ^^''^^^^  '"spired  had  other  use  than  the  production 

,.pnt,!rwvf  r.l;  ^«^^^T/  ""ti!  the  early  decades  of  the  nineteenth 
century  that  the  view  that  oxidation  took  place  in  the  lungs  gave 
way  to  the  accurate  theory  of  tissue  respiration.  In  1837  Gu-'ave 
Magnus  proved  that  both  venous  and  arterial  blood  contained  oxygen 
and  cprbon  dioxid.  -^j^k^" 

Hydrogen  was  discovered  by  Cavendish  in  1781,  when  he  also 
discov-ered  the  composition  of  water.  Nitrogen  was  discovered  in 
17/2  by  Rutherford,  Oxygen  was  prepared  by  Priestly  in  1771  and 
recogniz.d  by  Lavoisier  the  following  year.  Carbonic  acid  gas  or  car- 
bon dioxide  was  first  discovered  by  Van  Helmont  in  1610  and  redis- 
covered and  defined  by  Black  in  1757 


niAI'TKIi   VI. 


THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM. 


The  pro^jrcs.s  of  knouiedgo  of  the  nervous  system  has  been  ver: 
slow.  Most  of  the  other  viscera  were  known  to  the  ancients  before 
the  brain  was  recognized.  The  word  "brain"  is  not  to  be  found  in  the 
Bible.  The  ancient  Hebrews  evidently  looked  upon  tlie  heart  as  the 
seat  of  the  soul.  The  kidneys  were  the  habitation  of  the  mind,  while 
the  tender  emotions  were  referred  to  the  bowels.  Plato  was  perhaps 
the  first  to  assign  the  supreme  seat  of  the  mind  to  t'^e  brain,  but  his 
view.-,  were  purely  speculative,  inasmuch  as  he  confounded  the  sub- 
stance of  the  brain  and  of  the  spinal  cord  with  the  marrow  of  bones. 
Aristotle,  about  335  B.  C,  examined  the  brain  for  himself  and  con- 
cluded that  its  function  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  mind, 
but  that  it  was  a  refrigerating  organ  which  cooled  the  blood  for  the 
heart.  He  reasoned  according  to  the  knowledge  of  his  time.  The 
brain  was  apparently  an  insensible  and  inexcitable  organ  as  contrast- 
ed with  the  heart,  which  is  the  opposite.  Hippocrates  recognized  how 
soon  animals  became  unconscious  from  the  loss  of  blood,  or  how 
clianged  by  blood  poison  or  by  the  heated  blood  of  fever-  hence  the 
inferenca  by  Ari.-.totle  that  the  conscious  mind  resided  .  he  blood 
and  that  the  great  central  organ,  the  hf^art,  was  the  .seat  ui  the  soul. 
The  arteries  (f.  jm  the  etymology,  air  tubes  or  wind  pipes)  found 
empty  after  death,  were  supposed  to  carry  air  or  "ethereal"  spirits  to 
the  rest  of  the  body.  It  was  this  great  blunder  that  delayed  for  cen- 
turies, virtually  until  Harvey's  time,  all  progress  of  knowledge  of  the 
true  function  of  the  heart.  Hippocrates  maintained  that  the  brain 
was  a  gland.  With  this  supposition  subsequent  writers  ventured  the 
suggestion  that  ♦he  brain  secretion  was  a  subtile  fluid  which  they 
designated  "animal  spirits."  The  authority  of  such  names  as  Hip- 
pocrates and  AristotI.>  forbade  first  hand  investigation  for  fully  five 
centuries.  It  must  i  >t  be  overlooked,  however,  that  amid  all  this 
gruessing,  Alcmaeon  (about  500  B.  C),  an  anatomist  and  physiologist, 
taught  that  the  brain  was  the  seat  of  the  mind  and  that  all  sensation 
traveled  to  the  brain  by  means  of  the  nerves.  He  spoke  of  the  nerves 
as  "tendons"  which  misconception  held  sway  until  Descartes,  the 
philosopher,  showed  the  difference  between  tendons  and  nerves. 

About  300  B.  C.  sprung  up  the  Alexandrian  school  of  anatomists 
and  physiologists  of  whom  Herophilus  and  Erastistratus  were  chief 
who  dissected  the  brain  and  traced  to  it  the  nerves  as  Alcmaeon  had 
done.  They  even  went  so  far  as  to  distinguish  nerves  of  sensation 
and  nerves  of  motion,  but  were  still  hampered  by  Alcmaeon's  "ten- 
dons. "When  Greece  fell  under  the  subjection  of  Alexander,  mind  wen*- 
into  exile,  and  its  first  asylum  was  the  city  of  the  conqueror."  Under 
royal  patronage  the  study  of  anatomy  and  physiology  and  surgery 
made  great  progress,  '".alen  spoke  of  Herophilus  and  Erastistratus  as 
possessing  more  accuiate  knowledge  of  the  human  body  than  any  one 
before  their  time.  He**onb.iln.^.  v-*n5^  fht^  nr^^.f  f^nntrimis:^  nf  :rv*.rt.".rfsr'.."ri 
in  the  annals  of  medicine.    He  is  said  to  have  discovered  the  lacteal 


THOMAS  WILLIS 


61 


vessels,  and  the  construction  of  the  eye.  including  the  retina.  Galen 
speaks  of  Herophilus  as  having  a  very  intimate  knowledge  of  the 
anatomy  of  the  nervous  system.  The  term,  "torcular  Herophili" 
signifies  the  "press"  or  dilation  at  the  junction  of  the  superior  longi- 
tudinal lateral  and  occipital  sinuses  first  described  bv  Herophilus. 
Herophilus  and  his  associates  performed  vivisection  upon  condemned 
criminals.  Not  only  did  medicine  progress  during  this  early  period 
(about  300  B.  C).  but  literature,  philosophy,  mathematics^  natural 
history  and  astronomy  flourished  as  well  under  the  patronage  of 
F'tolemy.  A  great  part  of  the  record  of  this  fruitful  period  was  lost 
during  the  seventh  century  of  the  Christian  Era.  with  the  destruction 
of  the  great  Alexandrian  library. 

i^n  "^*"'  J^*"'""  ^^^  ^^'^^  <**"  Thought  and  Sensation:"  Galen.  A.  D. 
IbO.  overthrew  Aristoile's  theory  in  re.<Tard  to  the  brain  and  showed 
It  to  be  the  .seat  of  thought  and  sensation.  Aretaeus  (170  A.  D.) 
taught  that  the  i)rain  controlled  the  muscular  movements  of  the  body 
by  means  of  nerves  originating  in  the  brain.  He  recognized  the 
cros.sing  of  the  nerves  so  that  injury  to  one  hemisphere  pro- 
duced paralysis  on  the  opposite  side.  If  injurv  occurred  in  the 
cord  below  the  medulla  thi  naraly.Ms  was  on  the  same  side  as  the  in- 
jury.   The  seat  of  the  soul  was,  however,  in  the  heart. 

Andreas  Vesalius  (1514-15G4)  declared  that  the  "brain  in  ap 
propnatc  tiuctures.  and  in  organs  properlv  subserving  its  work 
manufactures  the  animal  spirit  which  is  by  far  the  brightest  and 
ric.-,t  delicate,  and  indeed  is  a  quality  rather  than  a  natural  thing. 
*  *  *  Nerves  serve  the  same  purpose  to  the  brain  that  the  great 
artery  does  to  the  heart."  The  nerves  he  regarded  as  the  "busv  at- 
tendants and  messengers  of  the  brain."  Vesalius,  however,  is  free  in 
the  use  of  such  terms  as  "vital  s(nil,"  "vital  spirits,"  "animal  spirits  " 
which  meant  so  much  to  the  physiologi.st  of  his  dav  and  so  little  to 
us  of  the  twentieth  century.  While  these  meaningless  tens  make  a 
great  deal  of  his  work  unintelligible,  yet  there  abound  throughout 
gleams  of  truth  as  we  understand  it  today.  He  showed  that  by  sever- 
ing a  nerve  or  by  ligation  it  was  possible  to  abolish  the  action  of 
the  nerve  upon  the  muscle.  Regarding  the  brain  he  savs:  "Rut  how 
the  brain  performs  its  functions  in  imagination,  in  reasoning,  in 
thinking  and  in  memory,  I  can  form  no  opinion  whatever." 

Nearly  a  century  later  we  C(»me  to  the  conclusions  of  von  Hel- 
mont  and  of  Descartes  which  were  much  less  to  the  point  than  the  ex- 
pres.sed  opinions  of  Vesalius.  One  placed  the  seat  of  the  soul  in  the 
pylorus ;  t       other  in  the  pineal  gland. 

Malp  A  devoted  much  attention  to  the  histologv  of  the  nervous 
system  but  said  practically  nothing  about  the  functions  of  the  nerves. 

Thomas  Willis:  Perhaps  the  most  important  investigator  of 
the  seventeenth  century  into  the  anatomv  and  phvsiology  of  the 
nervous  system  was  Thomas  Willis.  He  was  born  in  Wiltshire,  Eng- 
land, in  1621.  educated  at  Oxford  where  he  graduated  with  the  degree 
of  M.  A..  KM2.  He  eventually  entered  upon  the  studv  of  medicine 
and  on  graduation  was  appointed  to  a  professorial  chair  in  Oxford. 
iivre  he  taught,  practised  medicine  and  pursued  his  .scientific  re- 
searches.   In  1666  he  located  in  London  where  in  the  language  of  a 


PATHFINDERS  OF  PHYSIOLOGY 


contemporary  "he  became  so  noted  and  so  infinitely  resorted  to  that 
never  any  physician  before  went  beyond  him  or  got  more  money 'year- 
ly than  he."  Willis  possessed  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  structure 
and  functions  of  the  brain,  both  in  health  and  disease.  His  name  to- 
day IS  familiar  to  all  students  of  anatomy  in  the  "circle  of  Willis  " 
which  designates  the  combined  arterial  structure  at  the  base  of  the 
brain.  Sir  Michael  Foster  is  inclined  to  depreciate  the  work  of  Willis 
ine  value  of  his  book  is  much  above  the  worth  of  the  author  It  ap- 
pears that  Willis-  thirst  for  fame  was  much  greater  than  his 'love  for 
truth.  Richard  Lower,  a  contemporary  was  the  real  man  of  science 
ot  nis  day.  Willis  is  said  to  have  appropriated  the  work  of  Lower 
and  other  earnest  men  and  to  have  published  it  as  his  own.  Through- 
out the  work  of  this  period  v;e  still  have  to  deal  with  the  "corporeal 
soul,      animal  spirits, '  "sensitive  soul"  and  similar  phrases. 

Muscle  irritability:  Frances  Glisson,  an  Englishman,  bom.  1597 
came  upon  the  truth  of  the  relation  of  nervous  influence  to  muscular 
contraction.     Educated  at  Cambridge,  he  became  a  Fellow  and  lec- 

ZrU  in  ?fi9?rr^'''  ^^""^  ^^■''^''I-  0"  th^  publication  of  Har^-ev's 
work,  in  1628.  Glisson  determined  to  turn  his  attention  to  medicine 
and  SIX  years  later  he  received  his  M.  D.  degree.  He  did  not  go 
abroad  as  Harvey  did  but  pursued  his  medical  studies  in  London  He 
was  soon  appointed  Regius  Professor  of  physic  at  Cambridge,  but  it 
seems  did  not  spend  much  time  there,  as  the  social  atmosphere  was 
not  congenial  to  him.  Cambridge  was  strongly  Royalist,  while  Glis- 
son was  a  very  pronounced  Presbyterian.  He  served  in  a  professional 
capacity  in  London  during  the  great  plague  of  1665.  He  died  at  the 
age  of  eighty  years.  He  is  probably  best  known  for  his  work  on  the 
liver.  His  name  is  familiar  to  us  in  connection  vith  the  capsule  cov- 
ering that  viscus.  Glisson's  studies  on  the  livtr  lead  him  to  his  dis- 
covery regarding  the  peculiar  properties  of  muscle  tissue. 

Explaining  how  the  bile  is  di.scharged  into  the  intestine  only 
when  It  is  needed,  he  shows  that  the  secretion  is  greater  when  the 
gall  bladder  and  pas.sages  are  irritated,  hence  thev  must  possess  the 
power  of  being  irritated.  For  this  peculiar  property  he  suggests  the 
te'-m  irritability.  The  idea  was  not  .seized  bv  contemporary  physi- 
ol...gists,  hence  Glisson's  work  remained  dormant  until  the  following 
century,  when  Haller  made  use  of  the  term,  and  since  his  day  it  has 
become  established  in  physiology  and  has  played  an  important  part  in 
the  development  of  both  physiology  and  pathology. 

GoU  and  Phrenology:  A  name  which  has  received  but  slight  at- 
tention at  the  hands  of  biographers  is  that  of  Franz  Joseph  Gall  or 
Goll.  best  known  as  the  founder  of  the  pseudo  science  of  phrenology 
or  "bumpology"  as  it  has  been  contemptiously  called.  Goll  was  born 
in  1758.  He  took  his  degree  in  medicine  at  the  University  of  Vienna 
in  1785,  where  his  studies  on  brain  and  mind  began.  He  was  an  acute 
observer  of  phenomena  and  from  a  collation  of  observed  facts  was 
the  first  to  demonstrate  that  the  brain  was  the  organ  of  the  whole 
mind  The  modem  phrenologist  with  whom  we  are  more  or  less 
familiar,  is  a  disciple  of  Goll;  his  name  will  be  remembered  as  as- 
.■«(jLialed  with  the  discovery  of  certain  areas  in  the  spinal  cord.  Goll 
died  in  Paris  in  1828. 


BE!  L  AND  MAGENDIE 


BS 


BeU  and  Magendie:     One  of  the  greatest  names  in  connection 
with  the  anatomy  and  physiology  of  the  nervous  system  is  that  of 
Sir  Charles  Bell.    In  fact,  his  discovery  has  been  placed  in  importance 
m  the  same  class  as  that  of  William  Harvey.    Charles  Bell  was  bom 
at  Edinburgh,  Scotland,  in  1774.     After  graduating  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Edinburgh  he  began  the  study  of  medicine  under  his  elder 
brother  John    who  had  already  achieved  distinction  as  anatomist. 
Alter  graduating  he  devoted  himself  to  anatomy  and  surgery.      He 
eventually  moved  to  London,  where  he  worked  into  a  very  lucrative 
surgical  practice.    His  first  published  work  (1798)  bore  the  cumber- 
some title  ,and  it  was  the  custom  of  writers  of  the  time  to  preface 
their  work  with  a  sentence  descriptive  of  its  contents,  of  "A  System 
of  Dissections  Explaining  the  Anatomy  of  the  Human  Body,  the 
Manner  of  Displaying  its  parts  and  their  varieties  in  Disease."    Four 
years  later  Bell  published  a  series  of  engravings  of  original  drawings 
showing  the  brain  and  nervous  system.    His  drawings  are  worthy  of 
special  mention.    His  skill  as  anatomical  artist  rivaled  that  of  anato- 
mist.    He  was  also  the  author  of  a  work  entitled  "The  Anatomy  of 
Expression,"  the  object  of  which  was  to  describe  the  arrangement 
by  which  the  influence  of  the  mind  is  propagated  to  the  musculature 
of  the  face  and  to  give  a  rational  explanation  of  the  muscular  move- 
ments which  accompany  the  various  emotions  and  passions.       He 
emphasized    to    the   physician    and    surgeon    the    importance    of   a 
knowledge  of  facia]  expression  in  diagnosis,  to  ascertain  the  nature 
and  extent  of  bodily  suffering.    In  these  days  of  the  clinical  labora- 
tory and  multifarous  other  clinical  methods,  the  ability  to  make  a 
diagnosis  by  observation  alone  which  amounted  to  intuition  with  the 
old-time  clinicians,  is  a  lost  art.     This  work,  which  was  illustrated 
by  himself,  had  a  wide  circulation  in  his  day. 

Charles  Bell's  most  important  work,  however,  was  the  discovery 
of  the  double  system  of  nerves  issuing  from  the  spinal  cord.  He  dis- 
covered that  in  the  nerve  trunks  are  special  sensory  filaments  to 
transmit  impressions  from  the  periphery  of  the  body  to  the  sen- 
sorium  and  motor  filaments  to  convey  motor-impressions  from  the 
brain  or  other  nerve  centres  to  muscle.  He  demonstrated  that  the 
anterior  roots  of  the  spinal  cord  were  motor  and  the  posterior  roots 
sensory. 

While  in  London,  he  was  Professor  of  Anatomy,  Physiology  and 
Surgery  in  the  College  of  Surgeons.  He  was  knighted  by  William 
IV.  He  returned  to  Edinburgh  1836  where  he  became  professor  of 
anatomy  and  surgery.  His  name  is  associated  with  the  disease 
which  he  was  the  first  to  accurately  describe,  paralysis  of  the  sev- 
enth nerve— "Bell's  Palsy."    He  died  in  1842. 

*k  *"^/^i"*^  of  only  less  importance  than  that  of  Sir  Charles  Bell  is 
tnat  of  Magendie.  Magendie  has  been  considered  the  greatest  phy- 
sician France  had  produced  down  to  his  day.  His  work  on  physiology 
written  while  in  his  early  thirties  was  almost  immediately  translated 
into  English  and  German.  It  was  a  valuable  work,  inasmuch  as  it 
was  based  upon  experimentation.  He  was  the  first  continental  m- 
iV~"  j^'"'r>'' _1"  '•^■"-'-■"•^'  ^""-'  iuiiciion  or  Cue  opinai  ucrxea,  and  accord- 
mg  to  Gorton,  contributed  more  co  the  knowledge  oi  the  nervous 
system  than  any  of  his  distintuished  predecessors.    Magendie  was 


■'*  PATHFINDERS  OF  PHYSIOLOGY 

bom  at  Bordeaux,  France,  in  1783.  studied  medicine  in  Paris,  where 
he  became  demonstrator,  and  eventually  professor  of  anatomy  in  the 
College  of  France.    He  died  in  lg"i5. 

Magendie  is  described  as  being  abrupt  in  manner,  even  to  rude- 
ness. His  brusque  manner  has  been  i  ferred  to  in  his  relations  with 
hi.s  understudy,  Claude  Eeniard.  He  seems,  however,  to  have  been 
a  brilluint  if  not  very  methodical  worker.  He  refers  to  himself  as 
a  njgpicker  by  the  dust  heap  of  science.  His  work  on  the  nervous 
system  was  parallel  with  that  of  Sir  Charles  Bell,  and  the  scope  of 
the  work  of  both  is  epitomized  in  the  well-known  Bell  and  Magendie 
l.aw  to  the  effect  that  the  spinal  roots  may  be  divided  into  afferent 
and  etterent,  the  anterior  roots  carrying  impulses  only  from  the 
spinal  cord  to  the  periphery,  while  the  po.sterior  roots  cairv  impulses 
from  the  periphery  to  the  central  nervous  svstem;  a  nerve  fibre  can- 
not be  both  motor  and  sensory ;  we  may  have  both  ner\-e  fibres  in  a 
single  ne.Te  trunk  but  the  fibres  in  each  case  are  isolated  and  con- 
duct impulses  only  in  one  or  other  direction. 

To  Claude  Bernard,  associated  with  Magendie  in  the  College 
of  trance,  we  owe  the  discovery  of  the  vaso-motor  nerves. 

n^.f^p"*""*  u"**  ^^"^  "^^^'^  Center."_In  1861  Pau]  Broca,  an  immi- 
nent French  surgeon,  proved  that  there  is  a  -lefinite  locality  in  the 
"Rrn  J  r^  "  ^'  ■''"*  f  ^'•ticulate  speech.  This  is  known  todav  a, 
Broca  s  Convolution."  Nine  years  later,  thanks  to  the  labors  of  such 
men  as  HitzigJ^>rrier  and  Charcot,  it  was  shown  that  each  of  the 
special  sense.s  has  its  anatomical  seat  in  the  brain.    It  was  also  found 

ract  bv  tbTlvllt'V-"'"'  '■  "'.^-""VP  «f  ^^^'^-'^  ^""'^'  be  made  to  con 
tract  bv  the  excitation  of  certain  "centers"  or  localities  in  the  surface 

a'  s  •'!?'"•  wnH^h^'^rf  'f '"'■  ""''^r''  •"  ^^'-^i"  physiology.  Gorton 
.>a.,s  It  IS  worth  while  to  note  the  stride  anatomv  has  made  dur- 
ing the  closing  years  of  the  nineteenth  centurv,  especiallv  in  knowl- 
edge of  the  central  nervous  system  of  man  and  animals.  Ea^v  in  the 
las    decade  of  the  century  the  subject  was  taken  up  by  German  and 

ittrs  '"t  T'S'-  ^^'^-y^'--  ^^f'  ^Marchi.  Golgi,  His,  Apath^  and 
others  To  \\  aldeyer  we  are  indebted  i<,r  the  doctrine  of  neuron  as 
applied  to  nerve  cells,  from  the  Greek  word  "neuron  '  signifying  unft 
according  to  this  doctrine  every  cell  is  a  unit  having  an  independent 
txistence,  distinct  and  apart  from  other  cells,  though  related  to  tium 
an  may  degenerate  and  die  without  affecting  the  existence  of  the 
o  ners.  Meynart  estimates  that  "the  cortex  of  the  cerebral  hemis- 
pheres alone  contains  twelve  hundred  millions  of  ganglionic  cells'-" 
and  Donaldson  states  that  three  thousand  millio,-  cells  "is  a  modest 
"'^r''^f.  lu^;*^^''''  """^b'^''  «f  these  neurons  in  th,  central  nervous 
.system.  The  doctrine  of  neurons  has  been  assailed  a>  aFrolied  to  oom- 
Kr^hv  P  Jr' ■  -f  \^l  di^^nPui'^hed  Apathy,  and  defended  among 
others  b.\  Barker,  of  Johns  Hopkins  I'niversitv."  The  invention  of 
ti.IIues^  PJ-oces.H-s  afforded  a  powerful  impetus  to  the  study  of  nerve 

By    means   of   animal   experimentation    Flourens.    Luciani    and 
Horsley  determined  the  fijnptinn  ^f  ti.„  „ov.m „      n..         ,"„',." 

cerebrum  from  a  frog  or  pigeon  caused  all  its  voluntary"  movements 
to  cease,  but  did  not  intert     .-  with  the  reflexes  or  the  negrtTve  func 


PATHOLOGIC  STATES  OF  THE  BRAIN 


66 


tions.  The  same  investigators  found  that  if  the  cerebrum  was  re- 
moved and  the  cerebellum  left,  the  animal  has  sense  of  appreciation 
but  fails  m  muscular  coordination.  Stephen  Hales  showed  that  the 
spmal  cord  is  necessary  for  reflex  movements  and  Marshall  Hall  work- 
ed out  the  whole  problem  of  reflexes.  Galvani  (1791)  studied  reflexes 
by  applying  electric  stimuli  to  frogs'  legs. 

Pathologic  States  of  Brain  and  Nervous  System— Apropos  of  the 
development  ot  knowledge  of  the  physiology  of  the  nervous  system  is 
the  evolution  of  our  knowledge  of  its  pathologic  states.  The  insane 
nave  suffered  much  owing  to  ignorance  and  misconception  on  the 
part  of  the  .sane.  Ancient  nations  lookod  upon  the  insane  as  possess- 
ed of  evil  spirits  or  as  "possessed  of  devils."  Later  the  Cxreek  Alex- 
andrian, and  the  Roman,  looked  upon  the  in.sane  man  as  a  sick  man 
and  he  was  accordingly  treated  by  means  of  drugs,  baths,  exercise  and 
other  hygienic  measures.  A  great  retrogression  took  place  during  the 
second  or  third  centuries  of  the  Christian  era.  Theories  of  demoniac 
possession  again  he  d  sway,  with  the  result  that  the  insane  were  sub- 

M  I.'.  A  ^"^  "^'"°^*  *'''"'^'*^-  '^^'•^  attitude  continued  throughout  the 
Middle  Ages.  In  fact,  no  marked  advance  was  made  until  the  eigh- 
teenth century.  Various  places  of  custody  were  maintained  for  the 
msane  where  they  were  confined  in  dungeons,  badly  clothed  and  bad- 
ly fed.  The  first  real  advances  in  their  care  were  made  by  Philip 
Pinel,  in  France.  Tuke.  in  England,  and  Benjamin  Rush,  of  America 
near  the  ..'nd  <.f  the  eighteenth  century.  Pinel  in  1793  substituted  a 
system  of  non-restraint  and  humane  treatment  for  blows  and  punish- 
ments. \\  ilham  Tuke,  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  Wcts  mak- 
ing similar  reforms  in  England.  Stahl,  early  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, insisted  on  the  essentially  sinful  character  of  insanitv  and  this 
attitude  found  echo  in  Heinroth  in  the  early  nineteenth  centurv 
Religious  theorie.s  have  little  by  little  given  place  to  physiological  and 
psychological  explanations  until  today  the  insane  man  is  regarded  as 
a  sick  man.  Insanity  implies  disease  organic  or  functional,  just  as 
do  other  abnormal  manifestations, 

...r  .''h;'da,'/;,"fMre'1asr'paV°afraf'„  ''""""■''   ''"'''    °"   ^''"'''   diseases,    19U, 


CHAPTER  VII 


THE  CELL  THEORY 

"The  cell  theory  furnishes  the  starting  point  for  all  modem 
studies  in  biology  and  enables  all  students  to  speak  the  same 
language."  says  a  twentieth  century  writer.  The  recognition  of  the 
fact  that  animals  and  plants  are  constructed  on  a  similar  plan  must 
be  placed  among  the  most  important  discoveries  of  the  nineteenth 
century  prolific  as  that  century  has  been  in  scienuific  achievement. 
"No  other  biological  generalization,"  says  Professor  Wilson, 
referring  to  the  cell  theory,  "save  only  the  theory  of  or- 
ganic evolution  has  brought  so  many  diverse  phenomena 
under  a  J^cmmon  point  of  view,  or  has  accomplished  more  for  the 
unificatior  of  knowledge."  By  the  term  "cell-theory"  is  understood 
the  teaching  that  all  animal  and  plant  tissues  are  composed  of  units 
known  as  "cells,"  which  term  as  we  shall  see  is  inappropriate  so  far  as 
the  actual  things  designated  by  it  are  concerned.  The  cell-theory  is 
a  generalization  which  places  animals  and  plants  on  a  basis  of  similar- 
ity of  structure. 

Anticipated  in  the  Seventeenth  Century:  The  cell  doctrine  was 
anticipated  as  far  back  as  the  seventeenth  century,  for  it  is  to  a 
worker  of  the  mid-seventeenth  century  that  we  are  endebted  for  the 
term  "cell."  Robert  Hooke.  an  English  microscopist,  experimented 
with  cork,  which  he  declared  to  be  made  up  of  "little  boxes  or  'cells' 
distinguished  from  one  another."  He  made  thin  sections  by  means 
of  a  pen  knife  and  found  them  to  be  all  "cellular  or  porous  in  the  man- 
ner of  a  honeycomb."  Malpighi  and  Leeuwenhoek,  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  made  drawings  which  have  been  preserved  showing  the  cell 
structure  of  plants;  we  may  therefore  conclude  that  the  cell  theory 
announced  in  1838,  was  foreshadowed  by  seventeenth  century  work- 
ers. Wolff,  an  acute  scientific  observer  in  1759  worked  out  the 
identity  of  plants  and  animals,  as  shown  by  their  development.  Hux- 
ley summarizes  Wolff's  view  of  the  development  of  elementary  parts 
as  follows:  "Every  organ,  according  to  him,  is  composed  at  first  of 
a  little  mass  of  clear  viscous  nutritive  fluid  which  possesses  no  or- 
ganization of  any  kind,  but  is  at  mo.-t  compo.sed  of  globules.  In  this 
semi-fluid  mass  cavities  are  now  developed;  these  if  they  remain 
round  or  polygonal,  become  the  subsequent  cells;  if  they  elongate, 
the  vessels;  and  the  process  is  identically  the  same  whether  it  is  ex- 
amined in  the  vegetating  point  of  a  plant  or  the  young  budding  organs 
of  an  animal." 

Bichat's  Contribution:  Though  his  connection  with  the  cell 
theory  is  upen  to  question,  the  name  of  Bichat  is  deserving  of  mention 
in  discussing  it.  Marie  Francois  Xavier  Bichat.  bom  in  France  in 
1771,  is  noted  as  the  founder  of  histology.    He  studied  in  Paris  under 


TT_ 


at  the  age  of  twenty-six  years,  a  position  which  he  held  until  death 
relieved  him  of  his  labors  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-one.    It  is  related 


M.   sr i  i  I, Ki I  iKN. 


■riii:i H II )i;  S(  iiwaw. 

'■"""""''■'■^   '"    ""■    'HIMn,,,,,,.       n I.,„y    |:i,,l,..y   mm.I    I,.    M;,k..rs, 


I 


THK  t'KLL  TMKOIIY,  1.S38  |f 

that  he  won  the  attention  and  admiration  of  his  chief  bv  making  a 
complete  extemporaneous  n.port  of  or,e  of  De.saulfs  ectures  B  ch-U 
dhn/st'au  e"t";;ral,^  character;  he  ha.s  been  de«cr.ied  as  of "^'midl 
8  te  eve!  ••   nn  /        I  '.'ifreeabie  face,  lijjhted  by  piercing  and  exprea- 

rLg>    to  cnvT  or  other^"!"/,"  '^'^^'^"'^  «^  ''''  ^-^  -'-^le  t 
lively  in  his TaLc'rswhlhu"'  ^^'"""'j  "''''^^'^  '"  demeanour,  and 

?pn  fh.^^      ^      ''*  01  microscopic  study  of  the  tissues.     Schwann^ 
fn}}^7?-  "^'^^  '"  '>'^''^^'  ^"  extension  of  his  work.    B  chat's  cla?m 

him,  therefore,  belongs  the  greater  honor.  -<-nieiaen.  and  to 

M.  Schleiden  was  educated  for  the  legal  profession  and  had  enea^ed 

in  ibe  practice  of  law.    He  soon  abandoned  it  for  med  cine  but  Xr 

^"work^'^Slta'tirJLVv!'"  '''''.  «^  botlnr^Loc  ■•  'descrfb 
nis  work  in  1«J7,  stating  that  he  arrived  at  a  new  view  in  reirard  tn 

the  origin  of  plant  cells.     This  new  view  though  founded  upon  er 

rsTorktSir:  r'  '"r'""^'^^  '''''"  to%rov"okrdir"sioT 
tivitv      q;.S         ^  ^""'"^^^h  ^'^  ^'■^  t«ld'  '"  Ijringing  about  new  ac- 


■•«  '-^  J,' 


5« 


I'ATIIl-INDKIiS  OK  I'llVSIOUKiY 


took  occasion  to  relate  to  his  frieiu!  his  observations  and  inferences 
Sdiwarm  was  impressed  at  once  with  the  similarity  to  his  own  ob^ 
servations  on  animal  tissues.     They  at  once  proceeded  to  Schwann's 
laboratory  where  sections  of  the  spinal  cord  were  examined.  Schleiden 
recognized  the  nuclei  as  similar  to  those  he  had  found  in  plant  cells, 

Theodor  Schwann:  Schleiden  and  Schwann  seem  to  have  been  the 
most  diverse  personalities.  The  former  was  pujrnacious  and  always 
ready  to  take  up  the  jrauntlet  in  controversy;  the  latter  was  one  of 
the  mildest  of  men.  We  are  endebted  to  Henle.  a  name  familiar  in 
micro.scopic  anatomy,  for  what  we  know  of  tlu  life  ol  .Schwanc  This 
IS  Menle's  de.scription  of  him:  "He  was  a  man  of  .stidure  beiuw  the 
medium,  with  a  beardless  face,  an  almost  infantile  and  alwavs  smiling 
e,\pressi(.n.  smooth  dark  brown  hair,  wearinjr  a  fur  trimmed  dressing 
gown,  living  in  a  poorly  lighted  room  on  the  second  floor  of  a  restau- 
rant which  was  not  even  of  the  second  class.  He  would  pass  vhole 
days  there  without  going  out,  with  a  few  rare  books  around  l..,n,  and 
numerous  glass  ves.sels.  retorts,  vials  and  tube.s  simple  .  pp-ratus 
which  he  him.self  made.  Or  1  go  in  imagination  to  the  dark  and 
tu.sty  halls  of  the  anatomical  institute  where  we  used  to  work  till 
night  fall  by  the  side  of  our  excellent  chief,  Johann  Muller  We  took 
our  dinner  in  the  evening,  after  the  Kngiish  fashion  so  tl  it  we  mi^ht 
enjoy  more  ot  the  advantages  of  daylight." 

Johann  Muller:  The  mention  of  Johann  Muller  is  worth  a  mo- 
ment's digression.  Muller.  the  son  of  a  poor  shoemaker,  was  born  .it 
Coblentz  in  July.  1801.  Perhaps  it  was  the  meagmiess  of  liis  vorldlv 
passe.ssions.  (or  have  not  all  the  followers  of  Saint  Crispin  beei  men 
<)1  lowly  estate,  that  served  to  bring  out  the  true  metal  of  his  charac- 
■,u  Surmounting  the  disadvantages  and  lack  of  opportunity  of 
youth  he  became  eventually  one  of  the  great  teachers  and  masier 
minds  ot  (,erman  science.  The  inspiration  derived  from  a  great 
teacher  or  personality  is  dinicult  to  comprehend  much  le.ss  t.,  explain 
Harvey  was  influenced  by  his  association  with  Fabricius;  Bernard 
was  similiary  inspired  by  Magendie.  The  dominant  physiological  mind 
during  the  hr.st  halt  of  the  nineteenth  century  wasth.tt  of  Muller 
He  was  the  great  trainer  of  anatomists  and  physiologists.  Among 
de.sciples  during  his  professorship  at  Berlin  were  Virchow.  the  patho 
legist;  Du  Bois  Reymond  and  Brucke,  the  phy.siologsits;  Henle  the 
anatomist ;  Helmholtz.  and  Leiberkuhn.  All  became  distinguished 
.scholars  and  professors  m  German  universities.  In  glowing  tribute 
to  his  master,  Helmholtz  said:  "Wh-ever  comes  in  contact  with  men 
ot  the  nrst  rank  has  an  altered  scale  of  values  in  life.  Such  intellec- 
tual contact  is  the  most  interesting  event  that  life  can  ofTc-  " 

Muller's  manner  and  gestures  in  the  cla.ssroom  re^  i  ded  his 
hearers  of  a  Catholic  priest.  The  way  he  impressed  the  .sl  ^-ntific  men 
of  his  time  is  best  evidenced  by  the  numerous  tributes  accorded  his 
memory.  Verworn  .says:  "He  is  one  of  tho.se  monumental  figures 
that  the  history  of  every  .science  brings  forth  but  once.  They  change 
the  whole  aspect  of  the  field  in  which  they  work  and  all  later  growth 

is   influpnrpd   Hv   thpir  Irii^-rir*-:  **      A nH  nf  h.'.cz   Tv..-.rv :-.--,-.. -.nf.~.i   i....„i_    i^ 

Handbook  of  Physiology,  which  appeared  in  1833,  the  same  eulogist 
writes:  "This  work  stands  today  unsurpassed  in  the  genuinely  philos- 


JOIIANN  mli.lkh 


ophica]  manner  in  wli.ch  the  material,  .s^  oll.^n  t„  vast  croDortion.  h. 
innum..rable  special  researches  was  lor  the  I  r<t  1  me\m  P  T  .  ,■ 
orated  into  a  un.tary  p.cture  ..  the  nli.'Kan  im  IJ^Xi^t^t 

To  sum  up  and  to  silt  the  accumulated  knowledjre  of  a  den-irt 
ment  oi  scientific  endeavor  is  truly  a  nerc.  .an  tillk  ^ 


the 


■artiality  of 


one  reiiuirinjr 


'^  jii  ik"'  and  cii.  rgv  and  zeal  for  the  wnrU  th-iV 
amou  ,u  to  .en,us.     Haller  per>„n.u.d  a  similar  serv.i  for  ^!:,,i!;^y 

ronn/'n"""  ''^'""^'"  "  r^ 'talis!:"     Attempts  have  been   made  to  ac 
count  ,n  some  mure  or  less  satisfactory  way  for  the  phenome  m  ol  litv 

?h    c,  mT"'  'T'  ""*'"*''"''  i^'  'Attention -of  scientist  -        itm       d 
the  ch.^mico-physic  or  merhan-tic  fheorv.     Th..  maioritv     f^c  en 
t.sts  of  the  present   day  maintain   that  hv.,.,j,  organisms,    >  me?J 
machines,  as  opposed  to  the  theoiv  of  vitalism  uiiich     resupj  seJ^  he 
p..  -ence  o,   some  "hie"  principl,'.     The  chemico  phys  cist  tod-  y  sees 
n  thing  that  may  not   be  explained  by  the  ordinar v  laws  of     hysics 
and  chemistry     The  tendency  in  a.l  science  is  to  express  the  less^Tm 
pie  in  terms  o    the  mon    .imple.     Every  activitv  of  livinrsubstaiTe 
s  accompanied  by  molecular  or  chemical  changes  in  its  comp.  s  tTon 
such  as  o.Mdation   (comb.i-tion)   so  that  chemical  activity ThchTs 
S  mUu^"V^d"?^n'l70o'  f  r'  -'"'{-^^'t--  are  phys^o-clleSc^ 

r.i  ;^^e^vh^h':.:;s;Ss^JXt;!;;!f  t^Sg^at:  ^l^^'^-^^^c ^Ji^ 
cSnL:;;;edr  ■jr.sr' ''''"'  "^^^-^^^^  "^•■"  ^^'^^"^^ 

The  scientists  of  the  period  1810  to  1850  were,  for  th.>  most  nart 

uui.ng  ti  t  e  also,  the  vitalistic  theory  wa..  iiat  without  its  advo- 
cates who  vver.  armng  the  pupils  of  the  great  idealist  plil  sophe? 

ihe  n'bn-oSst"  "nT-r'^'I'il  ""'f'''-  ''''  PhX-ologistf  VonT  r' 
int  unbr\ologist.  and  Liebig.  the  chemist,  were  said  to  be  lose  .1 
lerents  to  the  vitalistic  theory.  It  was  not.  however,  unti?  u'i?  the 
date  ot  publication  of  the  researches  of  Helmholtz  on  conservation  of 
energy  that  vitalism  received  a  tunning  blow.  Sir  Mkhli  Foster 
e.xplains  fuller's  vitalistic  leanings  by  declaring  that  ''He  was  ■ 
vitahst  only  in  the  .sen.se  that  he  was  theoretically  of'on"bnTh> 
even  when  the  physico-chemical  analysis  of  vita i  phenomena  had 
been  pushed  as  t^ir  as  it  could,  there  would  still  remama  la?ge  Sesidue 

t  J^^TS^^^^  S 

S^theLniofSly^SJ^d^^eS^f^^     ^^^'^"^^'^^     ^'^ 

tinu;i^f;;-rti;:i?o:i^'K^rss^;;;-  -^^^  -- 

environment  just  as  the  hvoothesi«  „f  .r,„.;„i„n.L'i •'.'!.  '1°.".^.':'?'.°^  ^.'« 

woJ^  lZ\lfLZ'  T^'^^'^hips  of  anfmal^anrpiantr^'viSS 
would  sta>  the  hand  of  the  physiologist  in  hi.,  endeavors  to  determine 
the  changes  which  occur  within  the  living  organism." 


M 


!'.\!!!!!\!)!;!!rf   or   I'i  I  VSK  !|,!)i;  Y 


m  lU'ilin,  iridultrt'd 


Miillcr  ilh'd  111  IS.")?.    N'lrcliow.  at  his  ()l)so(iuif 
in  tile  l.iilouiiijr  piiiK  Kvric  over  liis  niastfr: 

".My  ftfl)!,.  pouris  havf  Imth  invoked  U>  lienor  this  jrrcat  man. 
wlioni  wi-  all.  n-piH'.sontativos  of  the  trreat  mi'dical  lainily.  teachers  and 
taii^lit.  practitioners  and  investi>j:ators.  mutually  lament  and  whose 
memory  is  still  so  vividly  with  us.  Neither  cares  by  day  nor  labors 
by  ni^ht  cai\  ell'ace  I'rom  our  mind  the  .sorrow  which  we  leel  for  his 
lo.s.s.  ir  the  will  m;i<!e  the  iWvd.  how  gladly  would  I  attempt  the  hope- 
less t.isk  of  proper  a|ipreciation.  l''ew  have  been  priviiejred.  like  my- 
self, to  liave  this  jfna*  master  be>ide  them  in  every  stajre  of  de 
velopment.  It  was  his  hand  which  kukU'cI  my  tirst  step.s  as  a  medical 
.student.  *  •  ♦  ijiit  i,„\^.  ^,.,„  ,„„.  tonjrue  adeiiuately  praise  a  man 
who  presided  over  the  whole  domain  of  the  science  of  natural  life;  or 
how  can  one  tongue  depict  the  master  mind,  wliich  extended  the 
limits  of  his  ^reat  kingdom  until  it  became  ^oo  larjre  for  his  own  un 
divided  Kovernment?  *  *  *  We  have  to  incjuire  what  it  was  that 
raised  .Muller  to  so  hijrh  a  place  in  the  estimation  of  his  contempor- 
aries; by  wliat  ma^ic  it  was  tliat  envy  became  dumb  before  him,  and 
by  what  mysterious  means  lie  contrived  to  enchain  to  himself  the 
hearts  of  beginners  and  to  keep  them  captive  through  many  long 
years?  Some  have  said  that  there  was  .something  supernatural  about 
Muller,  that  his  whole  appearance  bore  the  stamp  of  the  uncommon. 
That  this  commanding  influence  did  not  whollv  depend  on  his  extra- 
ordinary original  endownments  is  certain  from  what  we  know  of  the 
history  of  his  mental  greatness." 

Years  of  Di.scovery:  Such  was  the  mind  from  which  Schwann  de- 
rived his  inspiration.  The  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  the 
golden  age— the  I'ericlean  age— of  physiology  in  (Germany.  To  quote 
further  Irom  Schwann's  biographer  (Henle)  :  Those  were  great  days. 
The  microscope  had  been  brought  to  such  a  state  of  perfection  that  it 
was  available  for  accurate  scientific  ob.servation.  The  mechanics  of  its 
manufacture  had  besides  just  been  simplified  to  such  a  degree  that 
its  cost  was  not  beyond  the  means  of  the  enthusiastic  student  even 
of  limited  means.  Any  day  a  bit  of  animal  tissue,  shaved  off  with  a 
.scalpel  or  picked  to  pieces  with  a  pair  of  needles  might  lead  to  im- 
portant ground  breaking  discoveries." 

After  the  publication  of  his  work  on  the  cell  theory,  Schwann 
wa.s  appointed  professor  in  the  University  of  Louvain,  where  he  re- 
mained nine  years,  after  which  he  received  a  similar  appointment  in 
the  University  of  Liege.  His  "Microscopical  Researches  into  the  Ac- 
cordance in  the  Structure  of  Plants  and  Animals,"  though  of  .somewhat 
cumbersome  title,  is  one  of  the  great  classics  of  biology.  He  proves 
the  identity  in  structure  of  animals  and  plants  bv  direct  comparison 
of  their  elementary  parts.  His  conclusion  is  that  "the  elementary 
parts  of  all  tissues  are  formed  of  cells  in  an  analogous,  though  very 
diversified  manner,  so  that  it  may  be  as.serted  that  there  is  one  univer- 
sal principle  of  development  for  the  elementarv  parts  of  organisms 
however,  different  and  that  this  principle  is  the  formation  of  cells." 

Virchow  and  "Cellular"  Pathology:  Anv  account  of  the  cell 
theory  mu.st  needs  be  incomplete  with  the  omission  of  the  n.ome  .ind 
work  of  Kudoiph  N'irchow.  \'irchovv  was  bom  in  1821  of  humble 
parentage,  his  father  eking  out  a  livelihood  from  the  combined  oc- 


DI8C0VKUY  OK  I'ROTOI'LAHM 


n 


cupat  ,.ns  of  farmer  ami  .small  .shopkeeper.  The  .son  who  received  the 
Rca.lenun  training  ol  his  day  was  of  an  aclive  restless  temiK-ran  ent 
Virchow.s  was  a  m.nd  open  to  new  ui..as.  „f  lil.eral  and  indeSent 
views  on  medinne,  pohtics  an.l  religion.  His  open  svmpathies  with 
he  leform  endencus  ,n  IK  IS  wer..  such  that  he  was  oblU'd  to  leave 
Herhn  t..r  Uurzl.urjr,  vvlure  lie  taught  pathoio^^y  and  did  much  ori^- 
inal  work  therein  He  was  recalled  to  Herlin  in  1850,  when  he  was 
made  prof.s.M.r  o!  ,)atli.,lo^'y  in  the  university.  The  scope  of  his  ac- 
tivitu>s  may  be  seen  when  it  is  considered  that  he  wa.s  also  a  member 
of  the  UeichstaK,  where  he  became  leader  of  the  opposition  andl 
mSterVr"  h''^""'-''  of  Hismark.     As  chairman  of  the  finan?e  n.m 

?LJ  fh  ,   I         'I'  •'  '"■'"''"♦^  f"""^  '"  ^^'-  P"''^'c--^  of  His  city;  an.i  the 
fact  that  from  bemg  one  of  the  most  unsanitary  cities  Herlin  h  s 

Sea't  me^nr"*;  V^'"  ""T'  '^^'''''*^''"'  '^''"'^  ^"'^  ''-"  attributed 
p-eat  measure  to  hi.s  insistance  on  .sanitary  reform.     Virchow  .stands 

m  much  the  same  relation  to  pathoio^y  as  Schwann  to  hi.stology.       e 

'The  trn/^yr  ^)l  ^?'-'"  "!\  '^'"'^^''■"  ''"^hology."  He  established 
Ihe  true  and  fertile  doctrine  that  every  morbid  structure  consists  of 
ce  iH  which  have  been  derived  from  preexisting  celLs,"  or  as  he  hm 
se  f  expre.s.sed  it:  "Omnis  n.jlula  e  cellula.-  Hi.s  chief  wo?k  w^s  Vjs 
cellular  pathology  published  in  18.58;  in  it  he  applied  the  cell  theory 
to  di.seased  ti.ssues.     He  died  in  1903.  nt  ttii  meorj 

The  cell  theory  incomplete  as  first  announced:  When  William 
Harvey  published  hi.s  di.scover>  of  the  circulation,  .so  complete  was 
his  self-appointed  task  that  little  was  left  for  future  workers  The 
firlycogenic  function  of  the  liver  is  known  and  understood  by  us 
practically  as  proclaimed  by  Claude  Bernard.  The  cell  doctrine  has  a 
vastly  different  history.  As  announced  by  it's  co-founders,  it  was 
lar  Irom  being  complete.  Among  other  inaccuracies  they  attached 
too  much  importance  to  the  cell  wall.  The  word  "cell"  implies  a  wall- 
ed enclosure.  The  cell  of  honeycomb  or  the  cell  of  a  penal  institution 
t^o'n7h?.T^n'n.^rt"^'?^f'^  them,selves.  The  fundamental  declara- 
;  rLfm  ^  K  '  ''^  pants  and  animals  are  built  of  similar  units  or 

structuies  ha.s  been  substantiated.  This  is  perhaps  the  only  portion 
of  the  theory  that  has  not  been  profoundly  changed. 

fi,  The  discovery  of  Protoplasm:  Perhaps  of  equal  importance  to 
the  cell-theory  was  the  recognition  of  protoplasm.     Huxley  called  it 

stanci'  .^hf  h  -^  n"  ^^  ^'K  -.  f  *^''^  ^"J^^-^'"  recognized  this  sub- 
.stance,  which  is  the  basis  of  vital  activity,  in  1835.  He  discovered  in 
lower  animal  lorms  a  jelly-like  substance  which  he  called  "sarcode  " 

n^l,!oi%f^''-.°^u"  ^^^^^'''  "^^e'y-  that  of  watchmaker,  and  the 

TcaUon'^of  hii  lifl^^y '^"'""'^  ''T^.  ^'"^  *"  ^^"^^  «t«^d  in  the  later 
vocation  of  his  life  He  was  an  adept  with  the  microscope  and  dos- 
sessed  no  .small  ability  as  sketch  artist.  He  showed  ear?y  a  love  for 
the  natural  sciences     His  contributions  to  science  cover  a  rani  of 

Sy.^&eTed^  i;1?y.'^  "-''''''  ^"^^-^*>'  °^  hr^a/o^Toti 
life  were  the  same  thing.    Max  Schultze,  in  1861.  confirmed  Cohn's 


«8 


PATHFINDERS  OF  PHYSIOLOGY 


position  and  added  that  the  cell  consisted  of  little  units  of  protoplasm 
surrounding  a  nucleus.  The  nucleus  was  first  described  by  Fontana 
m  1871.  It  was  regarded  as  a  normal  element  of  the  cell  by  Robert 
Brown  in  1883.  It  was  evertually  seen  that  many  cells,  especially 
aninml  cells,  are  without  a  cell  wall,  h  nee  the  conclusion  that  the  so- 
called  'wall  '  is  not  an  .ssential  feature  of  the  "cell."  When  the  cell 
wall  is  absent  the  protoplasm  is  the  cell.  The  nucleus  was  found  to 
be  withm  the  substance  of  the  cell  and  not  within  the  cell  wall. 
Schultze  defined  the  cell  as  a  globule  of  protoplasm  surrounding  a 
nucleus.  From  being  regarded  as  an  element  of  structure  merely  the 
cell  has  come  to  be  recognized  as  the  physiological  unit  within  which 
all  physiological  activity  *akes  place. 

Perhaps  the  most  authoritative  as  v.-ell  as  I'ae  most  recent  defi- 
nition of  protoplasm  is  the  following  significant  paragraph  by  Star- 
Ung: 

"Tliough  It  may  be  conveaionl  to  havr  a  word  suc'h  as  protoplasm  signifying 
simply  living  material,'  it  is  important  to  ri-niember  tliere  is  no  such  thing  as  a 
single  sul/stance— protoplasm.  The  reactions  of  every  cell  as  well  as  its  organiza- 
tion are  the  resultant  of  the  molecular  structure  of  matter  of  which  It  is  built  up. 
The  gross  method.s  of  the  chemist  show  him  that  th,>  composition  of  the  proto- 
plasm of  the  muscle  cell  is  entirely  difTcrent  from  that  of  a  leucocyte  or  white 
blood  corpuscle.  The  finer  methods  of  ■  e  physiologist  show  him  that  every  sort 
of  cell  in  the  body  has  its  own  manner  of  life,  its  own  peculiarities  of  reaction 
to  uniform  rimngrs  in  its  .surrijimdings.  .\o  individual  will  react  in  exactly  the 
same  manner  as  another  individual  even  of  tho  same  species,  and  the  reactions 
of  the  whole  organism  are  but  the  sum  of  the  reaetions  of  it's  constituent  cells. 
There  is  not  one  protoplasm  therefore,  but  an  infinity  of  protoplasms  and  the  use 
of  the  term  can  be  justified  only  if  we  keep  this  fact  in  mind  and  use  the  word 
merely  as  a  convenient  ab'ureviation  for  any  material  endowed  with  life.  Even 
in  a  single  cell  there  is  more  than  one  kfna  of  protoplasm.  In  its  chemical 
characters,  in  its  mode  of  life,  and  in  its  reactions,  the  nucleus  dilTers  widely 
from  the  cytoplasm.  Hoth  are  r  .'cesspry  to  the  life  of  the  cell  and  both  must 
be  regarded  according  to  our  present  ideas  as  'Jiving.'  In  the  cytoplasm  itself 
we  find  structures  or  substances  which  we  must  regard  as  on  their  way  to  proto- 
plasm or  as  products  of  the  break  down  of  protoplasm;  but  in  many  cases  It  Is 
impossible  to  say  whether  a  given  material  is  to  be  regarded  as  lifeless  or  as  re- 
active living  matter,  Evc.t  In  a  single  cell  we  may  havt  differentiation  among 
its  different  parts,  one  part  serving  for  the  process  of  digestion  while  other  parts 
are  employed  for  purpose  of  locomotion.  Here  Hgain  there  must  be  chemical 
diiterences,  and  therefore  (i.flerent  protopld?m.s  " 

A  .statement  of  the  cell  theory  at  the  present  time  (1913)  must 
include  fcur  conceptions:  (1)  The  cell  as  a  rril  of  structure;  (2)  The 
cell  as  a  unit  of  physiological  activity;  (Hj  i  ne  cell  as  embracing  all 
hereditary  (luaiities  within  its  substance;  (4)  The  cell  in  the  histori- 
cal development  of  the  organism." 

Students  of  cytology  have  sought  to  find  out  if  any  uniformity 
of  organization  of  protoplasm  exi.sts.  Accordingly  we  have  a  number 
of  I'xplanations  or  theories  regarding  its  structure.  Aitmann  pro- 
posed the  granular  theory.  By  the  employment  of  certain  hardening 
reagents  he  demonstrated  dense  ma.s.se.s  of  spherical  or  rod-shaped 
granules  in  all  the  cells  of  the  body.  In  the.se  he  located  the  various 
vital  functions,  the  sum  total  of  'A-hich  constitute  the  life  of  the  cell. 


THE  NUCLEUS  ^ 

He  further  maintained  that  these  granules  could  come  jnly  by  division 

nL^''''n'f' "^  ?,'1""''f-     "^   P^''"'*''^^    VirchoWs    famous    phrase 
omms  cellula  e  cellula  mto  omne  granulum  e  granulo. 

The  fibrillar  theory  presupposes  net-work  or  clusters  of  fibrils 
knowTi  as  spong.o-plasm"  (sponge  plasm)  in  contra  destinction  to 
clear  or  structureless  matter  filling  in  the  meshes  of  the  net  to  which 
the  name  "hyaloplasm  (glass  plasm)  has  been  given. 

In  the  Alveolar  Theory  of  Butschli  the  author  regards  +he  so- 
called  granules  as  products  manufactured  by  the  hyaline  protoplasm 
and  stored  up  as  spherul-s  so  that  the  protoplasm  between  the  drop- 
lets lorm  an  alveolar  partition— hence  the  name  of  the  theory. 

Discussing  the  question  as  to  the  fluidity  of  protopiasm  Starling 
regards  it  as  'essentially  fluid  in  character,  the  form  and  rigidity 
which  are  acquired  by  most  cells  being  due  to  chemical  and  physical 
difterentiation  occurring  in  its  fluids."  p  o'    ^^ 

The  cell  consists  of  cytoplasm  and  nucleus.  Cytoplasm  (cell  plasm) 
is  a  term  lormulated  by  Kolliker  in  1863.     Though  not  so  applied 
when  first  used,  it  h   <  come  to  mean  the  living  substance  of  the  cell 
body  other  than  the  nucleus.    Cytoplasm  contains,  for  the  most  part 
subs  ances  apparently  foreign  to  the  cell  proper.     In  the  cytoplasm 
01  plant  cells,  for  example,  are  stored  up  starches  and  oils.     Most 
nerve  cells  contain  various  shaped  bodies  which,  it  is  alleged   repre- 
sent stored  up  energy.    The  passive  bodies  in  the  cytoplasm  are  su^ 
posed  to  represent  some  form  of  latent  energy  upon  which  the  cell 
may  draw.     In  the  cells  of  any  green  leaf  are  to  be  found  spherical 
masses  which  play  a  most  important  role  in  the  lives  of  not  only  plants 
but  of  animals  as  well.     By  the  action  of  the  sun's  rays  a  chemical 
change  takes  place  in  these  bodies  known  to  botanists  as  chloroplasts 
by  which  carbondioxide  and  water  are  broken  down,  decomposed  and 
immediately   synthetized   into  a   difl'erent   substance— carbohydrate 
starch,  which  will  respond  to  the  well  known  iodine  test  for  starch' 
Carbohydrate  IS  one  of  the  food  principles.     Fat.--  are  also  made  and 
stored  in  the  form  of  oils.     In  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  atmospheric 
air  .surrounding  the  plant  contain.s  an  abundance  of  free  nitrogen. 
The  plan^  cells  are  unable  to  make  use  of  it.     Nitrogen  must  be  first 
combined  as  a  nitrate,  become  dissolved  in  the  soil  and  taken  up  bv 
the  roots  of  the  plants,  or  in  the  case  of  water  plants,  by  special  cells 
before  the  green  matter  in  the  leaf  can  be  transformed  into  protein.' 
Ihe    plant,    therefore,    has     pover    to    make    foods    out    of    the 
chemical    elements    of    air    and    water    when    these    .'-ments    are 
properly  combined.    This  is  the  only  source  of  food  of  both  plant 
and  animal  and  it  is  the  result  of  cellular  activity. 

The  Nucleus:  The  nucleus  has  been  recognized  as  a  most  es- 
sential part  of  the  cell.  It  not  only  takes  part  in  the  complex  process 
of  cell  division  but  dominates  the  rest  of  the  cell.  It  is  not  my  pur- 
pose to  enter  upon  a  discussion  of  the  morphology  and  physiology  of 
the  animal  and  vegetable  cell,  further  than  it  is  necessary  to  trace  the 
various  stages  of  the  history  of  its  revelauon  from  its  earliest  recog- 

TentTeJ?  I'lu'ITn'^lL  I^^'^""  '^  ''''"''  '^  ^^^  — ^  --^- 


M 


PATHFINDERS  OP  PHYSIOLOGY 


ILLUSTRATIONS  SHOW  DIAGRARLXTICALLY  THE  CELL  AND 
INDIRECT  CELL  DIVISION. 


Fig.  1. 


Fig.  2. 


Fig.  3. 


Fig.  4. 


Fig.  6. 


Fig.  6. 


Fig.  7. 


.*)„<  .  •  "^  change  in  the  appearance  of  the  nucleus  which  indicates  that  a 
„ll  l^,  u  "'  '°  '*''*^  P"""*"'  consists  In  a  rearrangement  of  the  -, hromatin  net 
work,  Which  now-  ti^kcs  place  on  the  appearance  of  a  tangled  thread  (Fig.  2). 
Ihe  outwardly  directed  loops  of  this  skein  often  correspond  to  the  seperate  por- 
tions into  which  the  thread  eventually  breaks  up.  The  thread  gradually  grows 
snorter  and  thicker,  and  presently  becomes  divided  into  a  number  of  pieces  kiown 
as  chromosomes.  In  the  chromosomes  the  shortening  and  thickening  process  fs 
continued  until  these  bodie-  arrive  finally  at  thv  form  of  stumpy  rods  each  of 
which,  often  becomes  bent  into  the  form  of  a  horse  shoe.  Meanwhile  the  nuclear 
membrane,  breaks  down,  so  that  the  hyaline  sub.-'tance  of  tha  nucleus  becomes 
continuous  with  that  of  the  coil  body  surrounding  it,  A  fresh  phenomenon  now 
becomes  visible.  A  spindle-shipod  arrsnpoment  makes  it'.s  appearance  consistlrr; 
of  a  number  rf  minute  iibrils  which  connect  together  two  poirts--the  poles  of 
the  spindle—  .tuat-^d  at  opposite  ends  of  ihe  cell.  The  chromosomes  now  change 
their  position  so  that  they  come  to  be  in  the  plane  of  tlie  equator  of  the  spindle, 
and  about  this  lire  each  chromosome  splits  longitudinally  into  two  great  por- 
tions (Fig.  4  and  .'i).  This  splitting  in  the  case  of  each  chromosome  takes  place 
in  the  equatorial  plane  of  the  spindle,  so  that  one  member  of  each  ,)dlr  of  daugh- 
ter chromosomes  faces  towards  one  |>ole  of  the  srindle  and  Ihe  s(.cond  tow»rds 
the  other  pole.  The  members  of  each  pair  of  daughter  chromosomes  nov/  b( ''in 
to  move  away  from  one  towards  the  two  poles  of  the  spindle,  and  as  they  do  so 
Ihe  fir3t  Indication  of  a  dividing  wall  between  the  s<>cond  new  cells  begins  to 
make  Its  appearance  in  the  equatorial  plane.  Arriving  at  tr°  poles,  the  daughter 
chromosomes  begin  to  elongate  and  to  put  out  processes  which  finally  meet  and 
fuse  with  those  of  their  neighbors  to  form  the  chromatin  reticulum  of  the  new 
nuclei.  (Fig.  7.)  Surrounding  each  new  nucleus,  thus  developing  at  either  pole 
of  the  now  rapidly  disappearing  siiiiidle,  a  n^^w  nuclear  membrane  mak'.s  it's  ap- 
pearance; the  dividing  wall  in  the  position  of  the  equator  of  the  spindle  develops 
into  a  complete  partition  in  the  case  of  plants.  (The  animal  cell  is  wituout  a 
cell  wall.)  The  division  into  two  new  cells  is  thus  completed.  (Fig.  8.)  Each 
new  cell  Is  provided  with  a  nucleus  into  which  has  entered  precisely  Its  fair 
share  of  the  chromatin  which  was  present  In  the  parent  nucleus." 
— Illustration  and  description  after  Locke. 


TFir;  CELL  IN  HEREDITY  g,- 

Tho  discovery  of  the  various  dyes  and  tissue  stains  afForded  a 
wonder] ul  st.mulous  to  the  microscopic  studv  of  tissues  -is  well  «s  to 

thi  h-r  CertSn  Th  T""^  I"  Protopla™,  which  -.vill  „i!"ab"S,l, 
„?i,i„L  »  .""•""  roa-sliapc<l  bodies  s  tiiated  uithin  the  nuelei,^ 
"hrom^lome"- "   ''''''    *^^'"  ^"■^-  ^^^^er  portions  "re'lno^.^'^^s 

The  Cell  In  Heredity— Within  recent  years  the  subiect  of  hprp 
d.ty  has  claimed  the  attention  of  biologistsand    tTpraSSl  /DDlir 
tion  has  become  of  intenst^  intprn^t  i,Ttv..  ^iiiu  lus  pracucai  applica- 

knowledge   of  heredltTrre  "Sy   prod'^iif -l^esulr'The^^av^e 
revo  utionized  agricultural  methods  as  show,  "?  the  markedYmDrove 
nient  of  animals  and  plants.     It  is  impossible  of  reaSion  S^[  are 

Euynts"  "a  '"  /  inTrV^  ''^  improvement  oT  th?  hSm'an 'ral^e' 
the  nrorlnP^inn  If  .  'ts.  infancy.  The  past  ten  years  has  witnessed 
sSbje'ct  tSt;:'  ^"'"'"'"^"'^  "terature  on  eugenics  and  its  kindred 

even  to  the  minutest  details.  It  has  been  well  said 'natrenevlr  vet 
made  two  eggs  or  two  sperms  exactly  alike.'  The  ceils  which  give 
rise  to  new  organisms  are  the  germ  cells,  sperms  and  ova  These 
differ  greatly  in  shape  and  size-some  of  the  spe?m  cells  being  bSt 

-B-"-  -'"  SU'S-  7\^'^  t'toTe? 

ant  organs.     The  number  ul.;;).  L?    lu  -^^^-^  definite  and  import- 
divisio?  is  iheLmeTn  ,''1    heceir;r.u  v'^Ji^^^  "'  ^'^^''^  ''^^ 

stant  for  the  cells  of  ne\^^:^:fSff::^Se^'  ^"'  ^^  ^°"- 

ever;^^:crof^s^--Si-'n^:j-s^^^^^^ 


M 


PATHriXUKllS   OF   I'llYSlOI.OGV 


ber  of  chromosomes,  which  reprularly  occurs  m  the  divis   .n  of  all  of  itv 
cells,  and  m  all  forms  arising  by  sexual  reproduction,  the  nunibei' 

*o    c\  til. 

TP  ♦u^^^-'^^^u^'"  ^^^  o'^-^Pi-ing  is,  it  is  potential  in  the  fertil.^.ed  ovum, 
lu  ^  '-"^  u  'contribution  of  each  parent,  the  role  performel  bv  the 
mother  IS  that  of  custodian  of  her  embryonic  charge  until  birth  "  Her 
power  to  alter  it  in  any  way  is  as  futile  as  that  of  the  fathei  The 
parent  IS  rather  the  trustee  of  the  germ  plasm  than  the  producer  of 
the  child.  Sir  Michael  Foster  once  said.  "The  animal  body  -'  -  reali*- 
a  vehicle  for  the  ova;  and  after  the  life  of  the  parent  ha.,  oecome 
potentially  renewed  in  the  offspring,  the  bodv  remains  as  a  cast-off 
envelope  whose  future  is  but  to  dio."  The  germ  plasm  is  "the  lighted 
torch  handed  on  from  one  runner  to  another."  Et  riuasi  cursored 
vital  lampada  tradunt.  This  equally  true  of  plant  life  where  the 
plant  matures  and  dies  leaving  the  future  offspriiK'  potenti.dlv  in  "he 
seed.  How  characteristics  are  transmitted  from  ancestor  to  >  >sDring 
IS  not  known. 


NOTi-::— It   has  been  estimated   iliat    tho   number  of  cc\k 
comimsitioii   of  rlie   bod.v   of  an   adult   human   being   is  about    i 
five   huDdr>'d   tliousand   millions    (^tl.Vin.ooii.dnnjioO). 


terins  into   the 
nty-si.\   mi    ;on 


